The surface chemistry and the morphology of SnO2 nanowires, deposited by Vapour Phase Deposition (VPD) method on Au-covered silicon substrate, were studied before and after subsequent air exposure. For this purpose, surface-sensitive methods including X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Thermal Desorption Spectroscopy (TDS) and the Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) were applied. The studies presented within this paper allowed to determine the surface non-stoichiometry combined with the presence of carbon contaminations, in a good correlation with the surface morphology. The relative concentrations of the main components [O]/[Sn]; [C]/[Sn]; [Au]/[Sn] together with the O – Sn; O – Si bondings were analyzed. The results of TDS remained in a good agreement with the observations from XPS. Moreover, conclusions obtained for SnO2 nanostructures deposited with the use of Au catalyst were compared to the previous obtained for Ag-assisted tin dioxide nanowires. The information obtained within this studies are of great importance for the potential application of SnO2 nanowires deposited on Au covered Si substrate in the field of novel chemical nanosensor devices, since the results can provide an interpretation of how aging effects influence gas sensor dynamic characteristics.

A comparative study of the photocatalytic decoloration of methylene blue (MB) dissolved in water was conducted, using three semiconductor oxides: zinc oxide (ZnO), tin oxide (SnO2) and titanium dioxide (TiO2) in the form of thin films and varying their thickness ~ 100, 200, and 300 nm for each film. All the films were deposited using the cost-effective dip-coating technique, at moderate temperature processing (400 °C) with sol-gel solutions on cheap glass substrates. The structural, morphological, and compositional properties of the films were analyzed by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Raman spectroscopy, respectively. The degradation of MB was studied by varying both thickness and type of semiconductor oxides through measurements of optical absorbance of decolorated liquid by photocatalytic process. Structural analysis shows that ZnO and SnO2 films were polycrystalline with preferential growth of (002) and (110) planes respectively, whereas, an amorphous structure was observed for TiO2 films. In addition, morphological properties confirms that the surfaces of all the films are conformed with nano grains in round and irregular shapes. Based on all results reported in this work, that authors believe that the degradation efficiency of MB depends on the thickness of the film and the type of semiconductor material used as a catalyst. The highest degradation efficiencies were recorded with an exposure time of 120 min and with an initial concentration of 10 mg/L for ZnO, SnO2, and TiO2 films were: 100, 88 %, and 76 %, respectively.

Extensive post reproductive lifespan (PRLS) is observed only in a few species, such as humans or resident killer whales, and its origin is under debate. Hypotheses like mother-care and grandmother-care invoke strategies of investment—provision to one’s descendants to enhance one’s overall reproductive success—to explain PRLS. The contribution of an investment strategy varies with the age of the caregiver, as the number of care-receiving descendant changes with age. Here we simulated an agent based model, which is sensitive to age-specific selection, to examine how the investment strategies in different hypotheses affect survival and reproduction across different stages of life. We found that extensive PRLS emerges if we combine multiple investment strategies, including grandmother-care but not mother-care, which allow an individual to have an increasing contribution as it ages. We also found that, if mother-care is further introduced to the PRLS-enabling strategies, it will let contribution at mid-life to substitute contribution at late life, which consequently terminates extensive PRLS.

A method for accurately determining the chemical composition of deposits at the bottom of pores during the electrocoloring (e-coloring) of aluminum anodic oxide (AAO) layers in tin-based solutions is developed. The aluminum samples were AC e-colored after DC sulfuric anodization. Free-standing, tin e-colored aluminum oxide film was obtained by selective dissolution of the metallic aluminum from the AAO in copper chloride solution to access the deposit directly at the bottom of the pore. This allowed us to take XPS analysis directly from the deposits at pore bottoms without any interference from the base material or insulating barrier layer. The results revealed the presence of a mixture of tin oxide and metal in the deposits, which were richer in oxide content. Furthermore, a cyclic voltammetry experiment mimicking real polarization conditions during AC conditions was optimized and used to gain a deeper understanding of the electrochemical reactions that occur during AC electrocoloring. The comparison of CV results in tin-free and tin-containing electrolytes indicated that the tin deposited during a cathodic cycle is oxidized in the anodic cycle. The formation of tin based deposits radically changed the CV behavior. The XPS and cyclic voltammetry results consistently show that the deposits formed during e-coloring comprised a mixture of metallic and oxidic tin species richer in oxide content.

We study theoretically the Josephson diode effect (JDE) realized in a system composed of parallel-coupled double quantum dots (DQDs) sandwiched between two semiconductor nanowires deposited on an s-wave superconductor surface. Due to the combined effects of the proximity-caused superconductivity, strong Rashba spin-orbit interaction and Zeeman splitting inside the nanowires, a pair of Majorana bound states (MBSs) may possibly emerge at opposite ends of each nanowire. Different phase factors arisen from the superconductor substrate can be generated in the coupling amplitudes between the DQDs and MBSs prepared at the left and right nanowires, and will result in the Josephson current. We find that the critical Josephson currents in positive and negative directions are different from each other in amplitude within an oscillation period with respective to the magnetic flux penetrating through the system, a phenomenon known as the JDE. It arises from the quantum interference effect in this double-path device, and can hardly occur in system of one QD coupled to MBSs. Our results also show that the diode efficiency can reach up to 50%, and depends on the overlap amplitude between the MBSs and the energy levels of the DQDs adjustable by gate voltages. The present model is realizable within current nanofabitication technologies and may find practical use in interdisciplinary field of Majorana and Josephson physics.

Coalescence of nanowires and other three-dimensional structures into continuous film is desirable for growing low dislocation density III-nitride and III-V materials on lattice-mismatched substrates, and interesting from the fundamental viewpoint. Here, we develop a growth model for vertical nanowires which, under rather general assumptions on the solid-like coalescence process within the Kolmogorov crystallization theory, results in a morphological diagram for the asymptotic coverage of a substrate surface. The coverage is presented as a function of two variables, the material collection efficiency on the top nanowire facet a, and the normalized surface diffusion flux of adatoms from the NW sidewalls b. The full coalescence of nanowires is possible only when a=1 regardless of b. At a>1, which is usual for vapor-liquid-solid growth with a catalyst droplet, nanowires can only partly merge but never coalesce into continuous film. These results can be used for predicting and controlling the degree of surface coverage by nanowires and three-dimensional islands by tuning the surface density, droplet size, adatoms diffusivity, and geometry of the initial structures in the vapor-liquid-solid, selective area or self-induced growth processes in different epitaxy techniques.

Carbon dioxide (CO2)miscible fracturing huff and puff technology plays a pivotal role in enhancing the recovery rate of crude oil, particularly in reservoirs with challenging physical properties, strong water sensitivity, high injection pressure, and complex water injection dynamics. In this study, the oil-increasing mechanism and huff and puff effect of CO2 miscible fracturing fluid are investigated through a comprehensive experimental approach. Specifically, experiments on PVT gas injection expansion, minimum miscible pressure, and CO2 miscible fracturing huff and puff are conducted on the G fault block reservoir in J Oilfield. The findings demonstrate that injecting CO2 into reservoirs leads to oil volume expansion, viscosity reduction, and saturation pressure increase. Additionally, the inclusion of solubilizers and viscosity reducers further enhances the efficiency of crude oil extraction. Solubilizers not only improve oil recovery but also reduce the minimum miscible pressure required for effective CO2 dispersion. Furthermore, the shut-in time, permeability, and huff and puff method all have considerable impacts on huff and puff recovery rate. This study offers valuable technical insights, supporting the application of CO2 miscible fracturing huff and puff technology to enhance oil recovery in low-permeability reservoirs.

Background: The study demonstrates the sustainable synthesis of translucent zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires using Moringa seed extract, highlighting eco-friendly and sustainable approaches. Methods: Characterization techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) confirmed the formation of ZnO nanostructures with diverse morphologies, including nanowires and spherical clusters. Results: The synthesized ZnO nanowires exhibited remarkable photocatalytic activity, achieving over 89% degradation efficiency of methylene blue (MB) under UV light within 80 minutes, demonstrating their potential for wastewater treatment applications. Conclusions: The research findings support Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to clean water, climate action, and life below water and on land, highlighting the role of eco-friendly nanostructures in environmental remediation. The dual advantage of Moringa seed extract, providing both a sustainable synthesis route and health benefits due to its rich content of vitamins and phytochemicals, underscores the potential of integrating natural resources in nanotechnology for environmental and health applications.

In a collaborative forecasting task, experts may have unequal authority levels. However, this has rarely been considered reasonably in the existing fuzzy collaborative forecasting methods. In addition, experts may not be willing to discriminate their authority levels. To address these issues, an auto-weighting fuzzy weighted intersection (FWI) fuzzy collaborative intelligence approach is proposed in this study. In the proposed auto-weighting FWI fuzzy collaborative intelligence approach, experts’ authority levels are automatically and reasonably assigned based on their past forecasting performances. Subsequently, the auto-weighting FWI mechanism is established to aggregate experts’ fuzzy forecasts. The theoretical properties of the auto-weighting FWI mechanism have been discussed and compared with those of the existing fuzzy aggregation operators. After applying the auto-weighting FWI fuzzy collaborative intelligence approach to a case of forecasting the yield of a DRAM product from the literature, its advantages over several existing methods were clearly illustrated.

A spinning gyroscope precesses about the vertical due to a torque acting upon the wheel. The torque is generated by the shift of moment of force by gravity and it points to the vertical instead of the tangential direction of precession. This intuition offers an alternative and straightforward view of precession dynamics in comparison with the literature. It also presumes a dynamic balance of momentum between circular motions of the wheel spin and precession. Accordingly, the gyroscopic dynamics is then applied to the study of galactic motion of the solar system in space and the Galactic mass is calculated with the inclusion of gyroscopic effect of the solar planets. Results indicate that the gyroscopic effect of Mercury orbiting around the Sun can increase the calculated Galactic mass by 23% in comparison with the result obtained by the classic approach.

In this study, an attempt was made to investigate the Kenya case of multivariate causality of carbon dioxide emissions by employing a time series data spanning from 1961-2011 using the ARDL method of cointegration analysis. The long-run elasticities show that, a 1% increase in financial development increases carbon dioxide emissions by 0.28%, a 1% increase in GDP per capita increases carbon dioxide emissions by 1.32% and a 1% increase in urbanization decreases carbon dioxide emissions by 1.14%. There was a unidirectional causality running from financial development, food production index, GDP per capita, industrialization and urbanization to carbon dioxide emissions. The innovation accounting shows that 20% of future shocks in carbon dioxide emissions are due to fluctuations in financial development, 9% of future shocks in financial development are due to fluctuations urbanization and 22% of future shocks in food production index are due to fluctuations in carbon dioxide emissions.

The deposition of dust particles on solar panel modules constitutes a significant challenge, leading to a potential reduction in solar cell performance. This work tackles this issue by investigating the surface modification of a layer of transparent indium tin oxide (ITO), with a detailed analysis of the influence of its characteristics via different annealing conditions/processing. The ITO layer has been studied to enhance its characteristics for dust removal applications. Of particular note is that the developed ITO layer can be applied to dust removal using electrostatic or magnetic-based approaches. Thus, the correlation between annealing gas (using Argon, Oxygen, and Nitrogen), annealing temperature, and annealing ramping rate is explored with the obtained surface topography, as well as electrical and optical properties. The developed ITO layers annealed in the Argon medium at 600°C with an annealing ramping rate of 50°C/s showed smooth surface roughness, the highest electrical conductivity, and a relatively low refractive index. Such findings can play a crucial role in the future implementation of using the enhanced ITO layer for dust mitigation in solar panels, thus improving their long-term performance.

The aim of this review is to provide a survey of the recent advances and the main remaining challenges related to the ultrananocrystalline diamond (UNCD) nanowires and other nanostructures which exhibit excellent capability as the core components for many diverse novel sensing devices, due to the unique material properties and geometry advantages. The doping introduced in the gas phase during deposition promotes p-type or n-type conductivity. With the establishment of the UNCD nanofabrication techniques, more and more nanostructure based devices are being explored in measuring basic physical and chemical parameters via classic and quantum methods, as exemplified by gas sensors, ultraviolet photodetectors, piezoresistance effect based devices, biological applications, and nitrogen-vacancy color center based magnetic field quantum sensors. Highlighted finally are some of the remaining challenges and future outlook in this area.

DSSC devices are among the most widely studied thin-film solar cells because of their cost-effectiveness, low toxicity, and simple fabrication method. However, there is still much scope for replacing current DSSC materials due to their high cost, low volume, and lack of long-term stability. Accordingly, ITO-nanorod films were fabricated by E-beam evaporation using the glancing angle deposition method in this study. Then, the ITO-nanorod was treated by oxygen plasma via a bias-magnetron RF sputtering process to improve the efficiency of DSSC under a varying gas flow rate of 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100 sccm. The FE-SEM investigation of the ITO film structure revealed that the obtained nanorod structures have slightly different diameters. At the same time, an increase in the oxygen flow rate resulted in a rougher film surface structure. In this, the lower sheet resistance was received because of rougher morphology. When comparing the DSSC efficiency test results, we found that at a gas flow rate of 100 sccm, the highest efficiency value showed by 9.5%. On the other hand, the ITO-nanorod without plasma treatment exhibited the lowest efficiency. Hence, plasma technology can be practically applied to improve the efficiency of DSSC devices. This study will be a prototype of a highly advanced solar cell manufacturing method for the solar cell industry.

Reservoir routing has been a routine procedure in hydrology, hydraulics and water management. It is typically based on the mass balance (continuity equation) and a conceptual equation relating storage and outflow. If the latter is linear, then there exists an analytical solution of the resulting differential equation, which can directly be utilized to find the outflow from known inflow, and to obtain macroscopic characteristics of the process, such as response and residence times, and their distribution functions. Here we streamline the reservoir routing framework and extend it to find approximate solutions for nonlinear cases. The proposed framework can also be useful for climatic tasks, such as describing the mass balance of atmospheric carbon dioxide and determining characteristic residence times, which have been an issue of controversy. Application of the theoretical framework results in excellent agreement with real world data. In this manner, we easily quantify the atmospheric carbon exchanges, and obtain reliable and intuitive results, without the need to resort to complex climate models. The mean residence time of atmospheric carbon dioxide turns out to be no more than four years and the response time is smaller than that, thus opposing the much longer mainstream estimates.

Light trapping in single nanowires (NWs) are of vital importance for photovoltaic applications. However, circular NWs (CNWs) can limit its light-trapping ability due to high geometrical symmetry. In this work, we present a detailed study of light trapping in single NWs with an elliptical cross-section (ENWs). We demonstrate that the ENWs exhibit significantly enhanced light trapping compared with the CNWs, which can be ascribed to the symmetry-broken structure that can orthogonalize the direction of light illumination and the leaky mode resonances (LMRs). That is, the elliptical cross-section can simultaneously increase the light path length by increasing the vertical axis and reshape the LMR modes by decreasing the horizontal axis. We found that the light absorption can be engineered via tuning the horizontal and vertical axes, the photocurrent is significantly enhanced by 374.0% (150.3%, 74.1%) or 146.1% (61.0%, 35.3%) in comparison with that of the CNWs with the same diameter as the horizontal axis of 100 (200, 400) nm or the vertical axis of 1000 nm, respectively. This work advances our understanding of how to improve light trapping based on the symmetry breaking from the CNWs to ENWs and provides a rational way for designing high-efficiency single or self-assembled NW photovoltaic devices.

Compressed carbon dioxide energy storage (CCES) offers several benefits over other existing energy storage systems, including ease of liquefaction, high energy storage density, and environmental friendliness. As a result, the research progress, economic and technological feasibility, and system operation of the CCES system are all discussed in depth in this study. The system evaluation method is summarized and the compressed carbon dioxide storage is analyzed, and the performance optimization direction of the compressed carbon dioxide energy storage technology is discussed. When the overall performance of a transcritical CCES system, a supercritical CCES system and a liquid CCES system are compared, it is discovered that the supercritical CCES system has better thermodynamic characteristics and a simpler system configuration, making it suitable for large-scale development and use. The goal of the CCES system's future development is to create a design with an optimum compression and expansion ratio, a more precise analysis and system model, and multi-field coupling. This review's discussion serves as a guide for the best design and use of the CCES system.

This computational research study will compare the specific charge capacity (SCC) between lithium ions inserted into crystallize silicon (c-Si) nanowires versus sodium ions inserted into amorphous silicon (a-Si) nanowires. It will be demonstrated that the potential energy V(r) within the lithium-silicon nanowire supports a coherent energy state model with discrete electron particles while the sodium-silicon nanowire potential energy will be discovered to be essentially zero and thus the electron current that travels through the sodiated silicon nanowire will be modeled as free electron with wave-like characteristics. This is due to the vast differences in the electric fields of the lithiated and sodiated silicon nanowires where the electric fields are of the order of 1e10 V/m and 1e-15 V/m respectively. The main reason for the great disparity in electric fields are due to the present of optical amplification within lithium ions and the absence of this process within sodium ions. It will be shown that optical amplification develops coherent optical interactions which is the primary reason for the surge of specific charge capacity in the lithiated silicon nanowire. Conversely, the lack of optical amplification is the reason for the incoherent optical interactions within sodium ions which is the reason for the low presence of SCC in sodiated silicon nanowires.

Titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2NPs) are used in products that are applied to the human body, such as cosmetics and food, but their biocompatibility remains controversial. Pycnogenol (PYC), a natural extract of pine bark, exerts anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. In this study, we investigated whether PYC effectively alleviates pulmonary toxicity induced by airway exposure to TiO2NPs, and the beneficial effects of PYC were explained through the analysis of changes to the mechanism of cytotoxicity. TiO2NPs induced pulmonary inflammation and mucus production, increased the levels of malondialdehyde, and upregulated thioredoxin-interacting protein (TXNIP) and cleaved-caspase 3 (Cas3) in the lungs of mice. However, PYC treatment reduced the levels of all toxicity markers of TiO2NPs and restored glutathione levels. These antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of PYC were also demonstrated in TiO2NP-exposed human airway epithelial cells by increasing the mRNA levels of antioxidant enzymes and decreasing the expression of TXNIP, cleaved-Cas3, and inflammatory mediators. Taken together, our results showed that PYC attenuated TiO2NP-induced lung injury via TXNIP downregulation. Therefore, our results suggest the potential of PYC as an effective anti-inflammatory and antioxidant agent against TiO2NP-induced pulmonary toxicity.

Density functional theory (DFT) calculations of hydrogen adsorption on titanium nitride had previously shown that hydrogen may adsorb on both titanium and nitrogen sites with a moderate adsorption energy. Further, the diffusion barrier was also found to be low. These findings may qualify TiN, a versatile multifunctional material with electronic conductivity, as electrode material for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). This was the main impetus of this work which aims to experimentally and theoretically investigate the electrocatalytic properties of TiN-layers that were processed on Ti substrate using reactive ion sputtering. The properties are discussed focusing on the role of oxygen defects introduced during the sputtering process on the HER. Based on DFT calculations, it is shown that these oxygen defects alter the electronic environment of the Ti atoms which entails a low hydrogen adsorption energy in the range of -0.1 eV; this leads to HER performances that match those of Pt-NPs in acidic media. When a few nanometr thick layer of Pd-NPs is sputtered on-top of the TiN-layer, the performance is drastically reduced. This is interpreted in terms of oxygen defects being scavenged by the Pd-NPs near the surface which is thought to reduce the hydrogen adsorption sites.

Alexithymia as the inability to describe one's own feelings, is being increasingly researched. According to contemporary psychodynamic theories, negative emotions cannot be adequately named and externalized, but remain trapped in the body. Recent research shows the connection of alexithymia with numerous somatic diseases. Diabetes mellitus type 2 and obesity represent a great challenge in treatment, and the psychological profiles in these diseases are being studied more and more often. Therefore, alexithymia enters the focus of some research as one that could play a significant role namely in these diseases as the factor that makes a difference. The aim of this paper is a review of the literature with the purpose of understanding the current knowledge about the interconnection between alexithymia, obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus.

: AlF3 has interesting electrophysical properties, due to which the material is promising for applications in supercapacitors, UV coatings with low refractive index, excimer laser mirrors, and photolithography. The formation of AlF3-based nano- and micro-wires can bring new functionalities to AlF3 material. AlF3 nanowires be used, for example, in functionally modified microprobes for scanning probe microscopy. In this work, we investigate the AlF3 samples obtained by the reaction of initial aluminum with aqueous hydrofluoric acid solution of different concentrations. All the samples were obtained under normal conditions. The morphology of the nanowire samples is studied by scanning electron microscopy. Quantitative energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) spectra are obtained and analyzed with respect to the feedstock and each other.

: AlF3 has interesting electrophysical parameters, due to which the material is promising for applications in supercapacitors, UV coatings with low refractive index, excimer laser mirrors, and photolithography. The formation of AlF3-based nano- and micro-wires can bring new functionalities to AlF3 material. AlF3 nanowires be used, for example, in functionally modified microprobes for scanning probe microscopy. In this work, we investigate the AlF3 samples obtained by the reaction of initial aluminum with aqueous hydrofluoric acid solution of different concentrations. All the samples were obtained under normal conditions. The morphology of the nanowire samples is studied by scanning electron microscopy. Quantitative energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) spectra are obtained and analyzed with respect to the feedstock and each other.

Nitride and carbide are the second phases which play an important role in the performance of bearing steel, and their precipitation behavior is complicated. In this study, TiN-MC_x precipitations in GCr15 bearing steels were obtained by non-aqueous electrolysis, and their precipitation mechanisms were studied. TiN is the effective heterogeneous nucleation site for Fe₇C₃ and Fe₃C, therefore, MC_x can precipitate on the surface of TiN easily, its chemistry component consists of M₃C and M₇C₃ (M = Fe, Cr, Mn) and Cr₃C₂. TiN-MC_x with high TiN volume fraction, TiN forms in early stage of solidification, and MC_x precipitates on TiN surface after TiN engulfed by the solidification advancing front. TiN-MC_x with low TiN volume fraction, TiN and MC_x form in late stage of solidification, TiN can not grow sufficiently and is covered by a large number of precipitated MC_x particles.

Emulsifiers like egg yolk (EY) are necessary for the formation of mayonnaise, which is an oil-in-water type colloid. This study aimed to assess the potential of defatted soybean powder treated with supercritical carbon dioxide (DSF-SC) in enhancing the quality of plant-based may-onnaise as plant-based alternatives gain popularity. This study involved producing DSF-SC and comparing its quality attributes to those of mayonnaise made with varying amounts of control soy flour (CSF), DSF-SC, and EY. It was found that mayonnaise made with DSF-SC, with increased emulsifier quantity, showed better emulsion stability, viscosity, and smaller, more uniform particle size compared with CSF mayonnaise. Additionally, DSF-SC mayonnaise was overall rated higher in sensory evaluation. The addition of approximately 2% DSF-SC positively influenced the emul-sion and sensory properties of the vegan mayonnaise, making DSF-SC a promising plant-based alternative emulsifier for replacing animal ingredients.

For a long-only active equity manager (or investor), the ability to hedge the downside risk before a significant price correction is a valuable skill. The authors proposed constructing a signal that provides timing information for a manager to hedge the downside risk. This systematic signal can help a manager put on a hedge before the price corrections of the dot com bubble in 2000 and the global financial crisis in 2008. The signal is constructed for each GICS sector index in the S&P 500. When a sector’s PE indicates a high valuation and, at the same time, if the high valuation sector’s correlations with some other sectors are out of their historical norm, then these two conditions contribute a timing signal for the significant price swing of the index during the following six months. After observing the timing signal, managers can benefit significantly by hedging the downside risk. The signal can also be interpreted as the beginning of a high volatility regime for a sector.

Objectives: A wealth of literature has established risk factors for social isolation among older people, however much of this research has focused on community-dwelling populations. Relatively little is known about how risk of social isolation is experienced among those living in long-term care (LTC) homes. We conducted a scoping review to identify possible risk factors for social isolation among older adults living in LTC homes. Methods: A systematic search of five online databases retrieved 1535 unique articles. Eight studies met the inclusion criteria. Results: Thematic analyses revealed that possible risk factors exist at three levels: individual (e.g., communication barriers), systems (e.g., location of LTC facility), and structural factors (e.g., discrimination). Discussion: Our review identified several risk factors for social isolation that have been previously documented in literature, in addition to several risks that may be unique to those living in LTC homes. Results highlight several scholarly and practical implications.

Heavy metals are non-biodegradable and have a high toxicity effect to living things which makes their presence in the environment extremely dangerous. The method of handling heavy metals waste by photocatalysis techniques using TiO2/SiO2 composite showed a good performance in reducing harmful pollutants. In this study, SiO2 from Bengkulu beach sand was used as a support material for TiO2 photocatalyst to reduce Cr(VI) and Pb(II) concentrations. SiO2 was obtained through leaching techniques using NaOH as a solvent. The TiO2/SiO2 composite photocatalyst were synthesized using a solvothermal method at 130 °C and then characterized using XRD, FTIR, SEM and PSA. Based on the XRD diffractogram, the synthesized TiO2 showed the anatase structure while the SiO2 showed the amorphous structure. Ti-O-Si bond is defined in the IR spectra, which indicates that the relationship between TiO2 and SiO2 is a chemical interaction. The results of SEM and PSA characterizations show agglomerated spherical (round) particles with a mean particle size of 616.9 nm. The TiO2/SiO2 composite of 7:1 ratio showed the highest photocatalytic activity after 180 minutes of UV irradiation, with a concentration-decrease percentage of 93.77% and 93.55% for for Cr(VI) and Pb(II), respectively.

Three kinds of inorganic alkali are introduced into tetraethylenepentamine (TPEA) and polyethyleneimine (PEI) modified MCM-41 as the CO2 adsorbents. FT-IR and TGA are used to characterize the surface groups and the thermal stability of adsorbents. Chemical titration method is used to measure the alkali amounts of adsorbents. Thermo-gravimetric analysis with 10%CO2/N2 as the simulated flue gas is used to test the CO2 adsorption performance of adsorbents. The results show that all three kinds of inorganic alkali containing adsorbents exhibit promoted CO2 adsorption capability than traditional TPEA and PEI modified samples. Ca(OH)2 and PEI modified samples exhibit the highest adsorption capacity and stable regeneration property. The introduction of inorganic alkali changes the chemical adsorption mechanism between CO2 and increases the effective alkali amounts due to its hydroxyl groups. The CO2 adsorption capacities have a linear dependence relation with the alkali amounts of adsorbents, indicating that alkali amount is a critical factor for novel adsorbents exploring.

Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans) is the main etiological bacteria present in the oral cavity that leads to dental caries. All of the S. mutans in the oral cavity form biofilms that adheres to the surfaces of teeth. Dental caries are infections facilitated by the development of biofilm. An esterified derivative of epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), epigallocatechin-3-gallate-sterate (EGCG-S) was used in this study to assess its ability to inhibit the growth and biofilm formation of S. mutans. The effect of EGCG-S on bacterial growth was evaluated with colony forming units (CFU) and log reduction; biofilm formation was qualitatively determined by Congo red assay, and quantitatively determined by crystal violet assay, fluorescence-based LIVE/DEAD assays to study the cell viability, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to evaluate the morphological changes. The results indicated that EGCG-S was able to completely inhibit growth and biofilm formation at concentrations of 250 µg/ml. Its effectiveness was also compared with a commonly prescribed mouthwash in the United States, chlorhexidine gluconate. EGCG-S was shown to be equally effective in reducing S. mutans growth as chlorhexidine gluconate. In conclusion, EGCG-S is potentially a natural anticariogenic agent by reducing bacterial presence in the oral cavity.

High levels of groundwater containing both arsenic and fluorine are prevalent, resulting in serious health problems when consumed as drinking water. This co-pollution phenomenon is widespread and requires urgent attention. The multiple forms of arsenic and arsenic-fluorine co-contamination pose a significant challenge to efficiently co-remove both substances. This research utilized a green and stable synthesis approach to create MgLaFe LDO heterostructures, which were anchored on α-MnO2 nanowires. The materials comprise magnesium and lanthanum elements with a powerful attraction towards fluoride ions, elemental iron, which can establish stable compounds with arsenate, and MnO2, which can effectively oxidize arsenous acid, thereby enabling efficient co-removal of arsenic and fluorine. The efficient oxidation process of the MnO2 nanowire and the prompt ion adsorption process of the LDO work together synergistically. The adsorption performance was assessed through isotherm and kinetic fitting. Chemisorption was found to be the process for As(Ⅲ), As(V), and F- adsorption, with As(Ⅲ) going through monolayer adsorption on the surface of MnO2 nanowires, while As(V) and F- were mainly adsorbed by multilayer process on LDO. The maximum adsorption capacities were 111.76 mg/g, 230.51 mg/g, and 765.10 mg/g for As(Ⅲ), As(V), and F-, respectively. The XPS analysis provided further elucidation on the adsorption mechanism of the MnO2@LDO heterostructure, detailing each component's role in the process. The results confirm the successful construction of the heterostructure and its efficient coupling of oxidation and adsorption.

This research will examine the computational methods to calculate the nonlinear optical process of second harmonic generation (SHG) that will be hypothesized to be present during lithium ion insertion into silicon nanowires. First it will be determined whether the medium in which SHG is conveyed is non-centrosymmetric or whether the medium is inversion symmetric where SHG as a part of the second-order nonlinear optical phenomenon does not exist. It will be demonstrated that the main interaction that determines SHG is multiphoton absorption on lithium ions. The quantum harmonic oscillator (QHO) is used as the background that generates coherent states for electrons and photons that transverse the length of the silicon nanowire. The matrix elements of the Hamiltonian which represents the energy of the system will be used to calculate the probability density of second-order nonlinear optical interactions which includes collectively SHG, sum-frequency generation (SFG) and difference-frequency generation (DFG). As a result it will be seen that at varies concentrations of lithium ions (Li+) within the crystallized silicon (c-Si) matrix the second-order nonlinear optical process has probabilities substantial enough to create second harmonic generation that could possibly be used for such applications as second harmonic imaging microscopy.

Background: The use of nitinol (NiTi) archwires in orthodontic treatment has expanded significantly due to unique mechanical properties. The greatest barrier to safe orthodontic treatment is chemically or microbiologically induced corrosion, resulting in Ni2+ release. The aim of this investigation was to enhance corrosion resistance and introduction antibacterial properties to NiTi archwire by coating them with TiN-Cu. Methods: NiTi archwires were coated with TiN-Cu using cathodic arc evaporation and direct current magnetron sputtering. The morphology of the sample was analyzed by FESEM and the chemical composition was assessed using EDS, XRD and FTIR. Inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry was used to estimate the ion release. Biocompatibility of samples was investigated using MTT test. Antibacterial activity was analyzed against Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus mitis. Results: Physico-chemical characterization revealed well-designed coatings with the presence of TiN phase with incorporated Cu2+. TiN-Cu coated archwires showed statistically lower Ni2+ release (p<0.05). Relative cell viability was the highest regarding 28-day eluates of TiN-Cu coated archwires (p<0.05). The most remarkable decrease in Streptococcus mitis concentrations was observed in case of TiN-Cu coated archwires (p<0.05). Conclusion: Taking into account biocompatibility and antibacterial tests, TiN-Cu coated archwires may be considered as a good candidate further clinical investigations.

Deposition/printing of materials with sub-1 μm precision and size (cross sections) is required for optical and electrical micro-devices. Crystalline c-ITO (Indium tin oxide) nanostructures were patterned on glass with a precision that formed gaps of 20-50 nm between individual disks or lines of ∼ 250 nm diameter or width. The absorbed energy density [J/cm3] followed the second order dependence on pulse energy. This facilitated high resolution and precision for nanoscale laser writing at the 515 nm laser wavelength. Patterns for optical elements such as circular gratings and micro-disks were laser printed using ITO as a resist. Unexposed amorphous a-ITO was chemically removed in aqueous 1% vol. HF solution. This use of a-ITO as solid-resist is promising for metamaterial and micro-optical applications.

We demonstrate for the first time efficient mechanical to electrical energy conversion using InGaN/GaN nanowires (NWs). Using an atomic force microscope equipped with a modified Resiscope module, we analyse the piezoelectric energy generation of GaN NWs and demonstrate an important enhancement when integrating in their volume a thick In-rich InGaN insertion. The piezoelectric response of InGaN/GaN NWs can be tuned as a function of the InGaN insertion thickness and position in the NW volume. The energy harvesting is favoured by the presence of a PtSi/GaN Schottky diode which allows to efficiently collect the piezo-charges generated by InGaN/GaN NWs. Average output voltages up to 330 ± 70 mV and a maximum value of 470 mV per NW has been measured for nanostructures integrating 70 nm-thick InGaN insertion capped with a thin GaN top layer. This latter value establishes an increase of about 35% of the piezo-conversion capacity in comparison with binary p-doped GaN NWs. By considering these output signals, we estimate a maximum power density generated by one layer of dense InGaN/GaN-based NW of about 3.3 W/cm². These results settle the new state-of-the-art for piezo-generation from GaN-based NWs and offer a promising perspective for extending the performances of the piezoelectric sources.

In this study, the causal-effect between carbon dioxide emissions and forestry production and trade was investigated in Ghana by employing a data spanning from 1961 to 2014 by using the VECM and ARDL model. Evidence of the long-run equilibrium relationship in the VECM shows that, a 1% increase in veneer sheet production reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 1.47% in the long-run. There was evidence of a bidirectional causality between carbon dioxide emissions and veneer sheet production, carbon dioxide emissions and wood charcoal production, and a unidirectional causality running from carbon dioxide emissions to wood fuel production and plywood production to carbon dioxide emissions. Evidence from the long-run equilibrium relationship in the ARDL model shows that; a 1% increase in plywood production will increase carbon dioxide emissions by 0.17% in the long-run, a 1% increase in sawnwood production will increase carbon dioxide emissions by 0.17% in the long-run, a 1% increase in wood charcoal production will increase carbon dioxide emissions by 0.36% in the long-run and a 1% increase in wood fuel production will increase carbon dioxide emissions by 0.37% in the long-run.

Digital healthcare systems play a pivotal role in providing efficient and accessible healthcare services. However, ensuring secure authentication and key agreement mechanisms is essential to protect sensitive patient data and maintain the integrity of the system. The existing methods face limitations in terms of vulnerability to cyber attacks, scalability, and resource utilization. Furthermore, the integration of blockchain technology introduces new complexities that need to be addressed. This research proposes an optimized fuzzy logic approach combined with blockchain technology to address the authentication and key agreement challenges in digital healthcare systems. The proposed solution leverages the flexibility and adaptability of fuzzy logic algorithms to handle uncertainty and imprecision in authentication decisions. By employing fuzzy logic, the system can effectively minimize false positives and false negatives, enhancing the robustness against adversarial attacks. Moreover, the integration of blockchain technology provides a decentralized and tamper-proof infrastructure for securely storing and managing authentication and key agreement data. This ensures transparency and trust in the system, mitigating the risks of unauthorized access and data manipulation. The blockchain-based architecture also enables efficient resource utilization and scalability, allowing the system to handle authentication requests in a timely manner, even in large-scale digital healthcare environments.The proposed method is evaluated by using the NIST Special Database 302 and it shows superior performance compared to existing methods, with minimum False Rejection Rate (FRR), False Acceptance Rate (FAR), and response time. Moreover, the proposed method minimizes communication overhead during the authentication process and resists different cyber attacks including a Replay attack, Man-in-the-middle attack, Denial of Service (DoS) attack, and Impersonation attack. The proposed method achieves excellent performance in terms of security, efficiency, and resistance to various cyber-attacks, making it a promising approach for secure data sharing in P2P cloud environments.

Metallic nanoparticles (NPs), among polymeric NPs, liposomes, micelles, quantum dots, dendrimers, or fullerenes, are becoming more and more important due to their potential use in the novel medical therapies. Titanium dioxide (titanium(IV) oxide, titania, TiO2) is an inorganic compound that owes its recent rise in scientific interest to photoactivity. After the illumination in aqueous media with UV light, TiO2 produces an array of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The capability to produce ROS and thus induce cell death has found application in the photodynamic therapy (PDT) for the treatment of a wide range of maladies, from psoriasis to cancer. Titanium dioxide NPs were studied as photosensitizing agents in the treatment of malignant tumors as well as in photodynamic inactivation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Both TiO2 NPs themselves, as well as their composites with other molecules, can be successfully used as photosensitizers in PDT. Moreover, various organic compounds can be grafted on TiO2 NPs, leading to hybrid materials. These nanostructures can reveal increased light absorption allowing their further use in targeted therapy in medicine. In order to improve efficient anticancer therapy, many approaches utilizing titanium dioxide were tested. The most significant studies are discussed in this review.

A study is reported on the electrochemical alloying-dealloying properties of Mg₂Sn intermetallic compounds. ¹¹⁹Sn Mössbauer spectra of β-Sn powder, thermally alloyed cubic-Mg₂Sn and an intermediate MgSn nominal composition are used as references. The discharge of a Mg/micro-Sn half-cell led to significant changes in spectra line shape that are explained by a multiphase mechanism involving the coexistence of c-Mg₂Sn, distorted Mg_2-δSn and Mg-doped β-Sn. Capacities and capacity retention were improved by using nanoparticulate tin electrodes. This material reduces significantly the diffusion lengths for magnesium and contains surface SnO and SnO₂, which are partially electroactive. The half-cell potentials were suitable to be combined versus MgMn₂O₄ cathodes. Energy density and cycling properties of the resulting full Mg-ion cells are also scrutinized.

In this study, we adopt a unique approach by utilizing the responses of human autonomic systems to gauge the abundance of pollutants in inhaled air. Air pollution has numerous impacts on human health on a variety of time scales. This study uses biometric observations of the human autonomic response on the second timescale to investigate how the human body autonomically responds to inhaled pollutants in microenvironments, including particulate matter. PM1 and PM2.5, carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and nitric oxide (NO) on small temporal and spatial scales. These pollutants are exemplars of the wider human exposome. We compare two experimental approaches that use a similar methodology, employing a biometric suite to capture the physiological responses of cyclists and sensors to monitor the pollutants in the air surrounding them. We employ machine learning algorithms to estimate the levels of these pollutants and decipher the body’s automatic reactions to them. We observed high precision in predicting PM1, PM2.5 and CO2 using a limited set of biometrics from participants. Although the predictions for NO2 and NO were reliable at lower concentrations, the precision varied throughout the data range. This discrepancy suggests the potential to improve our models with more comprehensive data collection or advanced machine learning techniques.

Due to its intriguing applications across a wide range of industries, nanotechnology is generating a lot of interest globally. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles are one type of nanoparticle (NP) that is commonly utilised in everyday use and can be produced using a variety of physical, chemical, and environmentally friendly techniques. Green synthesis is an economical, environmentally benign, and non-toxic method of synthesising NPs. Under normal circumstances, the application of TiO2 greatly enhanced the plants' shoot length, leaf area, and root dry weight. These growth-promoting factors coincided with elevated proline, soluble sugar, and chlorophyll B levels as well as improved antioxidant enzyme activity. Thus, higher levels of proline and other metabolites played a role in osmo-protection, while increased antioxidant enzyme activities helped to explain the observed decrease in hydrogen peroxide and malondialdehyde contents. Taken together, these factors significantly improved plant growth under salinity. TiO2 nanoparticles have demonstrated efficacy in treating contaminated water and have been shown to positively impact plant physiology, particularly in response to abiotic stresses. However, the reaction to these nanoparticles varies depending on characteristics such as metal species, type, size, shape, dose, duration of exposure, and other variables. One of the most popular nanomaterials in customer goods, agricultural, and energy industries is TiO2 NPs. Therefore, harm to ecosystems and living things will unavoidably result from high demand and widespread usage. Gaining more knowledge about the toxicity of TiO2 NP to living things could help with risk assessments and safe handling procedures for these nanoparticles. The synthesis of titanium oxide, its many uses, the toxicity of titanium dioxide nanoparticles, and their mode of toxicity are all summarised in this paper.

Light absorption in single nanowires (NWs) is one of the most crucial factors for photovoltaic applications. In this paper, we carried out a detailed investigation of light absorption in single rectangular NWs (RNWs). We show that the RNWs exhibit improved light absorption compared with the square NWs (SNWs), which can be attributed to the symmetry-breaking structure that can increase the light path length by increasing the vertical side and the enhanced leaky mode resonances (LMRs) by decreasing the horizontal side. We found that the light absorption in silicon RNWs can be enhanced by engineering the horizontal and vertical sides, the photocurrent is significantly increased by 276.5% or 82.9% compared with that of the SNWs with the same side length as the horizontal side of 100 nm or the vertical side of 1000 nm, respectively. This work provides an effective way for designing high-efficiency single NW photovoltaic devices based on the symmetry breaking from the SNWs to RNWs.

Using a detailed atmospheric radiative transfer model, we derive macroscopic relationships of downwelling and outgoing longwave radiation, useful for hydrological practice. We validate them using empirical formulae based on downwelling radiation data, which are in common use in hydrology, as well as satellite data for the outgoing radiation. We use the macroscopic relationships to infer the relative importance of carbon dioxide and water vapour in the greenhouse effect. The results show that the contribution of the former is 4% – 5%, while water and clouds dominate with a contribution of 87% – 95%. The minor effect of carbon dioxide is also confirmed by the small, non-discernible effect of the recent escalation of atmospheric CO2 concentration from 300 to 420 ppm, which is quantified at 0.5% for both downwelling and outgoing radiation. Water and clouds also perform other important functions in climate, such as regulating the heat storage and the albedo, as well as cooling the Earth’s surface though latent heat transfer, with a contribution of 50%. By confirming the major role of water on climate, these results suggest that hydrology should have a more prominent and more active role in climate research.

This study aims to assess the feasibility of delineating and identifying mineral ores from hyperspectral images of tin-tungsten mine excavation faces using machine-learning classification. We compiled a set of hand samples of minerals of interest from a tin-tungsten mine and analyzed two types of hyperspectral images: 1) images acquired with a laboratory set-up under close-to-optimal conditions; and 2) scan of a simulated mine face using a field set-up, under conditions closer to those in the gallery. We have analyzed the following minerals: cassiterite (tin ore), wolframite (tungsten ore), chalcopyrite, malachite, muscovite, and quartz. Classification (Linear Discriminant Analysis, Singular Vector Machines and Random Forest) of laboratory spectra had a very high overall accuracy rate (98%), slightly lower if the 450 – 950 nm and 950 – 1780 nm ranges are considered independently, and much lower (74.5%) for simulated conventional RGB imagery. Classification accuracy for the simulation was lower than in the laboratory but still high (85%), likely a consequence of the lower spatial resolution. All three classification methods performed similarly in this case, with Random Forest producing results of slightly higher accuracy. The user’s accuracy for wolframite was 85%, but cassiterite was often confused with wolframite (user’s accuracy: 70%). A lumped ore category achieved 94.9% user’s accuracy. Our study confirms the suitability of hyperspectral imaging to record the spatial distribution of ore mineralization in progressing tungsten-tin mine faces.

Enhancement of mechanical properties by using TiN/TiCN/TiC multilayer thin films deposited on commercially pure cast Titanium (CP-Ti), Ti6Al4V and silicon (Si) substrates via magnetron sputtering technique was investigated in this study. The structural, chemical and mechanical properties of the coatings were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), nanoindentation and scratch test. Results of the XRD analysis showed reflections corresponded to FCC (1 1 1) cubic and polycrystalline structure for TiN/TiCN/TiC films. XPS analysis revealed formation of titanium nitride, titanium carbonitride and titanium carbide in the coatings. According to SEM images, the coatings demonstrated dense cross-sectional morphology and columnar structure as well as good adhesion to the substrate with a thickness of 1.77 μm deposited on silicon (1 0 0). Scratch and nanoindentation test results showed the best mechanical behavior for the coated Ti6Al4V substrate material with the 19.96 GPa hardness and 25 N critical load values, because of its higher hardness and toughness of substrate in compared to Cp-Ti substrate.

Enhancement of mechanical properties by using TiN/TiCN/TiC multilayer thin films deposited on commercially pure cast Titanium (CP-Ti), Ti6Al4V and silicon (Si) substrates via magnetron sputtering technique was investigated in this study. The structural, chemical and mechanical properties of the coatings were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), nanoindentation and scratch test. Results of the XRD analysis showed reflections corresponded to FCC (1 1 1) cubic and polycrystalline structure for TiN/TiCN/TiC films. XPS analysis revealed formation of titanium nitride, titanium carbonitride and titanium carbide in the coatings. According to SEM images, the coatings demonstrated dense cross-sectional morphology and columnar structure as well as good adhesion to the substrate with a thickness of 1.77 μm deposited on silicon (1 0 0). Scratch and nanoindentation test results showed the best mechanical behavior for the coated Ti6Al4V substrate material with the 19.96 GPa hardness and 25 N critical load values, because of its higher hardness and toughness of substrate in compared to Cp-Ti substrate.

Integrated ultra-low-loss waveguides are highly desired for integrated photonics to enable applications that require long delay lines, high-Q resonators, narrow filters, etc. Here we present an ultra-low-loss silicon waveguide on 500 nm thick SOI platform. Meter-scale delay lines, million-Q resonators and tens of picometer bandwidth grating filters are experimentally demonstrated. We design a low-loss low-reflection taper to seamlessly integrate the ultra-low-loss waveguide with standard heterogeneous Si/III-V integrated photonics platform to allow realization of high-performance photonic devices such as ultra-low-noise lasers and optical gyroscopes.

Today, more than 70 million tons of lignin are produced by the pulp and paper industry every year. However, the utilization of lignin as a source for chemical synthesis is still limited due to the complex and heterogeneous lignin structure. The purpose of this study was a selective photodegradation of industrially available kraft lignin in order to obtain appropriate fragments and building block chemicals for further utilization, e.g. polymerization. Thus, kraft lignin obtained from soft wood black liquor by acidification was dissolved in sodium hydroxide and irradiated at a wavelength of 254 nm with and without the presence of titanium dioxide in various concentrations. Analyses of the irradiated products via SEC showed decreasing molar masses and decreasing polydispersity indices over time. At the end of the irradiation period the lignin was depolymerised to form fragments as small as the lignin monomers. TOC analyses showed minimal mineralisation due to the depolymerisation process.

In this work, we propose an easy and a low cost method for the synthesis of Nitrogen-Doped Graphene NDG and its silver nanowires NW functionalization NWGN. The synthesis was performed using the improved graphene oxide method, chemical reduction of graphene oxide in the presence of caffeine as green nitrogen source and the subsequently the silver nanowires growth in the surface, by the chemical reductions salts in the presence of NG. Achieving a homogeneous growing (coating) of graphene sheets. The samples were analyzed using conventional characterization techniques: SEM-EDX, XRD, FT-IR, RAMAN, TEM, HRTEM, STEM and XPS.

In this study, we investigate the magnetization behavior of coaxial nanowires fabricated through the sol-gel electrospinning method. Our analysis uncovers a significant reduction in coercivity for CoFe2O4 nanowires when BaTiO3 is used as the shell material, effectively transforming them from hard to soft magnetic. This intriguing behavior is attributed to the magnetization reversal effect at the interface between ferromagnetic and paramagnetic regions, and it is also observed in NiFe2O4 and Fe2O3 nanowires. Surprisingly, introducing a GdBa2Cu3O7 shell induces a similar effect. Additionally, we employ magnetic impedance measurements on the coaxial nanowires, unveiling their potential for magnetic field sensing applications.

Transparent conducting oxides (TCO) with high electrical conductivity and at the same time high transparency in the visible spectrum are an important class of materials widely used in many devices requiring a transparent contact such as light-emitting diodes, solar cells and display screens. Since the improvement of electrical conductivity usually leads to degradation of optical transparency, a fine-tuning sample preparation process and a better understanding of the correlation between structural and transport properties is necessary for optimizing the properties of TCO for use in such devices. Here we report a structural and magnetotransport study of tin oxide (SnO₂), a well-known and commonly used TCO, prepared by a simple and relatively cheap Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Vapour Deposition (APCVD) method in the form of thin films deposited on soda-lime glass substrates. The thin films were deposited at two different temperatures (which were previously found to be close to optimum for our setup), 590 °C and 610 °C, and with (doped) or without (undoped) the addition of fluorine dopants. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Grazing Incidence X-ray Diffraction (GIXRD) revealed the presence of inhomogeneity in the samples, on a bigger scale in form of grains (80–200 nm), and on a smaller scale in form of crystallites (10–25 nm). Charge carrier density and mobility extracted from DC resistivity and Hall effect measurements were in the ranges 1–3 × 10²⁰ cm⁻³ and 10–20 cm²/Vs, which are typical values for SnO₂ films, and show a negligible temperature dependence from room temperature down to -269 °C. Such behaviour is ascribed to grain boundary scattering, with the interior of the grains degenerately doped (i.e., the Fermi level is situated well above the conduction band minimum) and with negligible electrostatic barriers at the grain boundaries (due to high dopant concentration). The observed difference for factor 2 in mobility among the thin-film SnO₂ samples most likely arises due to the difference in the preferred orientation of crystallites (texture coefficient).

Carbon subsurface storage (CSS) has already been recognised as a critical, urgent, and essential method for reducing anthropogenic CO2 emissions and mitigating the severe effects of climate change. CSS is the last stage in the carbon capture and storage (CCS) cycle and is accomplished chiefly via oceanic and subterranean geological sequestration, as well as mineral carbonation. The injection of supercritical CO2 into geological formations causes a disruption in the subsurface's existing physical and chemical conditions; changes can occur in the pore fluid pressure, temperature state, chemical reactivity, and stress distribution of the reservoir rock. This paper aims to present a comprehensive review on the current advances in CSS, particularly CO2 storage methods and the challenges encountered during the implementation of each methods and analyses on how key uncertainties in CSS can be reduce. CSS sites are essentially unified systems; yet, given the scientific context, these systems are typically split during scientific investigations based on the physics and temporal/spatial scales involved. Separating the physics by using the system as a boundary condition is a strategy that works effectively for a wide variety of physical applications. Unfortunately, the separation technique does not accurately capture the behaviour of the larger important system in the case of water and gas flow in porous media. This is due to the complexity of geological subsurface systems, which prevents the approach from being able to effectively capture the behaviour of the larger relevant system. This consequently give rise to different CSS methods. A good CSS application method can further improve the efficiency of greenhouse gas emission and their environmental impact, promoting the process sustainability and helping to tackle some of the most important issues that human being is currently accounting, global climate change. Though this technology is already large-scale development for the last decade, some issues and uncertainties are identified. Special attention was focused on the basic findings achieved in CO2 storage operational projects to date.

Carbon dioxide, CO₂ accounts for most of the emission from all the types of greenhouse gasses in the world. The ability of CO₂ to remain longer than other greenhouse gases and the convenience of producing CO₂ has resulted in its high projection in a yearly manner. The prime factor for the emission of CO₂ are from the actions of human beings. One such human act is the concrete industry. Total emissions from the concrete industry could therefore contribute as much as 8% of global CO₂ emissions. Sequestered CO₂ in concrete can provide an impact on reducing the carbon footprint and is also able to improve the compressive strength of concrete. During this process, the sequestered carbon dioxide chemically reacts with cement to produce a mineral, trapping carbon dioxide gas in the concrete. Hence, sequestering carbon dioxide gas in concrete does not only on a bigger scale reduces carbon footprint, but it also reduces the impact the construction industry has on the environment. This paper presents a detailed review on the chemical reaction that takes place during the sequestration of carbon dioxide and the research published on the effects of carbon dioxide sequestered concrete on its properties. The impact this process has on the concrete industry and the environment is discussed in this paper.

Background: Cardiometabolic risk factors (CRFs) are significant health concerns among adults with overweight and obesity. Resistance training (RT) is known to manage CRFs, but the impact of moderate-frequency RT (two to three times weekly) remains unclear. Methods: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing moderate-frequency RT with non-exercise control or usual care in overweight and obese adults. Searches were performed in PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library up to February 2024, following the PRISMA 2020 guidelines. Eligible studies included non-athletic adults (BMI ≥ 25) aged 18 years or older, with RT interventions lasting 7 weeks or longer. Results: Fifteen RCTs were included. Moderate-frequency RT significantly reduced systolic blood pressure by -4.66 mmHg (95% CI -9.34 to 0.02, p=0.01) and mean arterial pressure by -6.48 mmHg (95% CI -10.63 to -2.33, p=0.002) compared to controls. Additionally, RT significantly lowered fasting insulin levels by -12.52 mmol/L (95% CI -24.17 to -0.88, p=0.04) and HOMA-IR by -1.49 (95% CI -1.63 to -1.35, p＜0.00001). Improvements were more pronounced in participants with dietary control. Conclusion: Moderate-frequency RT effectively improves CRFs in overweight and obese adults, suggesting its potential as a beneficial intervention for this population. PROSPERO registration number: CRD42022343167.

Photodynamic inactivation (PDI) combines the nontoxic photosensitizer (PS) and visible light to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS), which can cause oxidative damages in (on) microbial organisms. Previously, we have shown that chitosan can augment the bactericidal efficacy mediated by PDI against bacteria and Candida. In this study, we showed that the antimicrobial action of chitosan to augment PDI relates to the enlargement of cell surface destruction. The microbial cell surfaces exhibit severe irregular shapes after PDI in the presence of chitosan. Furthermore, increase in the concentrations or incubation time of chitosan significantly reduce the amounts of photosensitizers TBO required, indicating that chitosan could be a synergistic agent with PDI against human pathogens. A prolonged lag phase was found in PDI surviving microbial cells, in which chitosan can act to synergistically eradicate the cells. Once the impaired cells rebuild their cellular functions from PDI-induced damage, the increased cytotoxic effect of chitosan disappeared. Together, our results suggest that chitosan with an augmented bactericidal activity after PDI is to inhibit the rehabilitation of PDI surviving cells, leading to microbial death.

Vertical III-V semiconductor nanowires have shown promising absorption of light for solar cell and photodetector applications. The absorption properties can be tuned through the choice of III-V materials and geometry of the nanowires. Here, we review recent progress in the design of the absorption properties of both individual nanowires and nanowire arrays. Future directions for the research field are proposed.

Chemical and mechanical properties of plasma-assisted nitrided (PAN), TiN cathodic arc coated, and PAN with TiN coated samples were thoroughly evaluated on tool steel samples of 1.2379. The evaluation involved SEM, nano-indentation, profilometer, micro scratch, and corrosion tests. The results revealed that PAN treatment alters the roughness of the surface, while it has minimal impact on the coefficient of friction. However, it increases the substrate's hardness, making it twice as hard and three times more resilient against scratch tests, along with improved corrosion resistance. TiN-coated samples are four times harder than untreated ones, but they exhibit a higher elastic modulus (E), leading to a lower H/E index. The most promising results were obtained with PAN+TiN treatment, combining high hardness (H) with lower E, resulting in a high H/E index, a crucial criterion for wear resistance. These samples also demonstrated superior scratch hardness and corrosion resistance, despite being thinner and rougher.

Demand for niobium and tantalum is increasing exponentially as these are essential ingredients for the manufacture of, among others, capacitors in technological devices and ferroniobium. Mine tailings rich in such elements could constitute an important source of Nb and Ta in the future and so alleviate potential supply risks. This paper evaluates the possibility of recovering niobium and tantalum from the slags generated during the tin beneficiation process of mine tailings from the old Penouta mine, located in Spain. To do so, a simulation of the processes that would be required to beneficiate and refine both elements is carried out. After tin carbothermic reduction, the slags are sent to a hydrometallurgical process where at the end niobium oxide and tantalum oxide are obtained. Reagents, water and energy consumption, in addition to emissions, effluents and product yields are assessed. Certain factors were identified as critical, and recirculation was encouraged in the model to maximize production and minimize reagents use and wastes. With this simulation, considering 3000 production hours per year, the metal output from the tailings of the old mine could cover around 1% and 7.4% of the world annual Nb and Ta demand, respectively.

Nanomagnetism and spintronics are currently active areas of research, with one of the main goals being the creation of low-energy-consuming magnetic memories based on nanomagnet switching. These types of devices could also be implemented in neuromorphic computing by crafting artificial neurons (ANs) that emulate the characteristics of biological neurons, through the implementation of neuron models such as the widely used leaky integrate-and-fire (LIF) with a refractory period. In this study, we have carried out numerical simulations of a 120 nm diameter, 250 nm length ferromagnetic nanowire (NW) with the aim of exploring the design of an artificial neuron based on the creation and destruction of a Bloch-point domain wall. To replicate signal integration, we applied pulsed trains of spin-currents to the opposite faces of the ferromagnetic NW. These pulsed currents (previously studied only in the continuous form) are responsible for inducing transitions between the stable single vortex (SV) state to the metastable Bloch point domain wall (BP-DW) state. To ensure the system exhibits the leak and refractory properties, the NW was placed in an homogeneous magnetic field of the order of mT in the axial direction. The suggested configuration fulfills the requirements and characteristics of a biological neuron, potentially leading to the future creation of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) based on reversible changes in the topology of magnetic NWs.

Single nanowires (NWs) are of great importance for optoelectronic applications, especially solar cells serving as powering nanoscale devices. However, weak off-resonant absorption can limit its light-harvesting capability. Here, we propose a single NW coated with the graded-index dual shells (DSNW). We demonstrate that with appropriate thickness and refractive index of the inner shell, the DSNW exhibits significantly enhanced light trapping compared with the bare NW (BNW), and the NW only coated with the outer shell (OSNW) and the inner shell (ISNW), which can be attributed to the optimal off-resonant absorption mode profiles due to the improved coupling between the reemitted light of the transition modes of the leak mode resonances of the Si core and the nanofocusing light from the dual shells with the graded refractive index. We found that the light absorption can be engineered via tuning the thickness and the refractive index of the inner shell, the photocurrent density is significantly enhanced by 134% (56%, 12%) in comparison with that of the BNW (OSNW, ISNW). This work advances our understanding of how to improve off-resonant absorption by applying graded dual-shell design and provides a new choice for designing high-efficiency single NW photovoltaic devices.

The development of sensors for monitoring Carbon Monoxide (CO) in a large range of temperature is of crucial importance in areas as monitoring of industrial processes or personal tracking using smart objects. Devices integrating GaN/Ga₂O₃ core/shell nanowires (NWs) is a promising solution allowing combining the high sensitivity of the electronic properties to the states of GaN-core surface; and the high sensitivity to CO of Ga₂O₃-shell. Because the performances of sensors primarily depend on the material properties composing the active layer of the device, it is essential to control these properties and in first time its synthesis. In this work, we investigate the synthesis of GaN/Ga₂O₃ core-shell NWs with a special focus on the formation of the shell. The GaN NWs grown by Plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy, are post-treated following thermal oxidation to form Ga₂O₃-shell surrounding the GaN-core. We establish that the Ga₂O₃-shell thickness can be modulated from 1 up to 14 nm by changing the oxidation conditions, and follows the diffuse-controlled reaction. By combining XRD-STEM and EDX analysis, we also demonstrate that the oxide shell formed by thermal oxidation is crystalline and presents the β-Ga₂O₃ crystalline phase, and is synthesized in epitaxial relationship with the GaN-core.

In this study, we explored the manipulation of optical properties in the terahertz (THz) frequency band of radio-frequency (RF) sputtered indium-tin-oxide (ITO) thin-films on highly resistive silicon substrate by rapid thermal annealing (RTA). The optical constants of as-deposited and RTA-processed ITO films annealed at 400°C, 600°C and 800°C are determined in the frequency range of 0.2 to 1.0 THz. The transmittance can be changed from ~ 27% for as-deposited to ~ 10% and ~ 39% for ITO films heat-treated at different annealing temperatures, T_a’s. Such variations of optical properties in the far infrared for the samples under study are correlated with their mobility and carrier concentration, which are extracted from Drude-Smith modeling of THz conductivity with plasma frequency, scattering time and the c-parameters as fitting parameters. Resistivities of the films are in the range of 10^-3 to 10^-4 W-cm, confirming that annealed ITO films can potentially be used as transparent conducting electrodes for photonic devices operating at THz frequencies. The highest mobility, m = 47 cm²/V∙s, with carrier concentration, N_c = 1.31´10²¹ cm^-3, was observed for ITO films annealed at T_a = 600°C. The scattering times of the samples were in the range of 8 – 21 fs, with c-values of -0.63 to -0.87, indicating strong back scattering of the carriers, mainly by grain boundaries in the polycrystalline film. To better understand the nature of these films, we have also characterized the surface morphology, microscopic structural properties and chemical composition of as-deposited and RTA-processed ITO thin-films. For comparison, we have summarized the optical properties of ITO films sputtered on fused silica substrates, as-deposited and RTA-annealed, in the visible transparency window of 400-800nm. The optical bandgaps of the ITO thin films were evaluated with a Tauc plot from the absorption spectra.

A switchable and tunable terahertz (THz) metamaterial based on photosensitive silicon and Vanadium dioxide (VO2) was proposed. By using finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method, the transmission and reflective properties of the metamaterial were investigated theoretically. The results imply that, the metamaterial can realize a dual electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) or two narrow-band absorption depending on the temperature of the VO2. Additionally, the magnitude of the EIT and two narrow-band absorption can be tuned by varying the conductivity of photosensitive silicon (PSi) via pumping light. Correspondingly, the slow light effect accompanying the EIT can also be adjusted.

In recent years, the production of cement has grown globally in a very rapid manner due to the modernization of the world we live in, and after fossil fuels and land-use change, cement production is the third-largest source of anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide, CO₂. Cement being the primary binding material for concrete and with the prospects for the concrete industry continues to grow so will the emissions of CO₂. Hence, a method to reduce the CO₂ production while keeping up with the progression of the concrete industry is very crucial in current times. This is where CO₂ sequestration comes in. It is a process where CO₂ is converted into a mineral which will then be trapped into the concrete forever. Required data to carry out the research between CO₂ sequestered concrete and concrete without CO₂ have been observed, obtained and tabulated as necessary. These data are then used to compare the concrete samples with one another and also prove the theoretical effects of CO₂ exposure to concrete. Hence, experimental results on the compressive strength of the concrete samples for 7, 14 and 28 days has also been tabulated, graphed and further disputed. The objective of this research is mainly to determine the compressive strength of CO₂ sequestered concrete in comparison with concrete without CO₂ in order to decrease the effects the concrete industry has on the environment. The compressive strength of concrete samples with sequestration of CO₂ gas is expected to be higher than of the concrete without CO₂.

Antibiotic-free approaches are more important than ever to deal with the rapidly growing problem of antibiotic resistance. The blue light 460nm (BL460nm) has been shown to effectively attenuate Staphylococcus aureus to chemical and physical agents through photolysis of the bacterial virulence factor Staphyloxanthin. However, the phototherapy using BL640nm has yet to be investigated in detail for its safety in eradicating Staphylococcus aureus in vitro and in vivo. In this study, we used a LED source producing a continuous wavelength of 460 nm along with hydrogen peroxide to treat S. aureus in culturing conditions and a wound abrasion mouse model. The results proved the safety of the combined therapy when it did not modify the bacterial virulence factors or the susceptibility to the widely used antibiotics. In addition, the experimental results on the mouse skin infection model also showed that the combined therapy is safe to apply to mouse skin and that it did not cause adverse skin irritation. Furthermore, the therapy can help Staphylococcus aureus-infected wounds heal with efficacy comparable to the topical antibiotic Fucidin. The above results suggest that the combination therapy of 460nm blue light and hydrogen peroxide can be safely used as an alternative to or adjunct to antibiotics in treating S. aureus-infected wounds.

Capturing and storing CO2 (CCS) was once regarded as a significant, urgent, and required option for reducing the emissions of CO2 from coal and oil and gas industries and mitigating the serious impacts of CO2 on the atmosphere and the environment. This recognition came about as a result of extensive research conducted in the past. The CCS cycle comes to a close with the last phase of CO2 storage, which is accomplished primarily by the adsorption of CO2 in the ocean and injection of CO2 subsurface reservoir formation, in addition to the formation of limestone by the process of CO2 reactivity with reservoir formation minerals through injectivities. CCS is the last stage in the carbon capture and storage (CCS) cycle and is accomplished chiefly via oceanic and subterranean geological sequestration, as well as mineral carbonation. The injection of supercritical CO2 into geological formations disrupts the sub-surface's existing physical and chemical conditions; changes can occur in the pore fluid pressure, temperature state, chemical reactivity, and stress distribution of the reservoir rock. This paper aims at advancing our current knowledge in CO2 injection and storage systems particularly CO2 storage methods and the challenges encountered during the implementation of each method and analyses on how key uncertainties in CCS can be reduced. CCS sites are essentially unified systems; yet, given the scientific context, these storage systems are typically split during scientific investigations based on the physics and spatial scales involved. Separating the physics by using the chosen system as a boundary condition is a strategy that works effectively for a wide variety of physical applications. Unfortunately, the separation technique does not accurately capture the behaviour of the larger important system in the case of water and gas flow in porous media. This is due to the complexity of geological subsurface systems, which prevents the approach from being able to effectively capture the behaviour of the larger relevant system. This consequently gives rise to different CCS technology with different applications, costs and social and environmental impacts. The findings of this study can help improve understanding of selecting a suitable CCS application method and can further improve the efficiency of greenhouse gas emissions and their environmental impact, promoting the process sustainability and helping to tackle some of the most important issues that human being is currently accounting global climate change. Though this technology has already had large-scale development for the last decade, some issues and uncertainties are identified. Special attention was focused on the basic findings achieved in CO2 storage operational projects to date. The study has demonstrated that though a number of CCS technology has been researched and implemented to date, choosing a suitable and acceptable CCS technology is still daunting in terms of its technological application, cost-effectiveness and socio-environmental acceptance.

This computational research study analyzes the increase of the specific charge capacity that comes with the reduction of the anisotropic volume expansion during lithium ion insertion within silicon nanowires. This research paper is a continuation from previous work that studied the expansion rate and volume increase. It has been determined that when the lithium ion concentration is decreased by regulating the amount of Li ion flux, the lithium ions to silicon atoms ratio, represented by x, decreases within the amorphous lithiated silicon (a-LixSi) material. This results in a decrease in the volumetric strain of the lithiated silicon nanowire as well as a reduction in Maxwell stress that was calculated and Young’s elastic module that was measured experimentally using nanoindentation. The conclusion as will be seen is that as there is a decrease in lithium ion concentration there is a corresponding decrease in anisotropic volume and a resulting increase in specific charge capacity. In fact the amplification of the electromagnetic field due to the electron flux that created detrimental effects for a fully lithiated silicon nanowire at x = 3.75 which resulted in over a 300% volume expansion becomes beneficial with the decrease in lithium ion flux as x approaches 0.75 which leads to a marginal volume increase of ~25 percent. This could lead to the use of crystalline silicon, c-Si, as an anode material that has been demonstrated in many previous research work to be ten times greater charge capacity than carbon base anode material for lithium ion batteries.

Abstract: This computational research study analyzes the increase of the specific charge capacity that comes with the reduction of the anisotropic volume expansion during lithium ion insertion within silicon nanowires. This research paper is a continuation from previous work that studied the expansion rate and volume increase. It has been determined that when the lithium ion concentration is decreased by regulating the amount of Li ion flux, the lithium ions to silicon atoms ratio, represented x, decreases within the amorphous lithiated silicon (a-LixSi) material. This results in a decrease in the volumetric strain of the lithiated silicon nanowire as well as a reduction in Maxwell stress that was calculated and Young’s elastic module that was measured experimentally using nanoindentation. The conclusion as will be seen is that as there is a decrease in lithium ion concentration there is a corresponding decrease in anisotropic volume and a resulting increase in specific charge capacity. In fact the amplification of the electromagnetic field due to the electron flux that created detrimental effects for a fully lithiated silicon nanowire at x=3.75 which resulted in over a 300% volume expansion becomes beneficial with the decrease in lithium ion flux as x approaches 0.75 which leads to a marginal volume increase of ~25 percent. This could lead to the use of crystalline silicon, c-Si, as an anode material that has been demonstrated in many previous research work to be ten times greater charge capacity than carbon base anode material for lithium ion batteries.

Layered 2D graphene oxide (GO) films are integrated with silicon nitride (SiN) waveguides to experimentally demonstrate an enhanced Kerr nonlinearity via four-wave mixing (FWM). Owing to the strong light–matter interaction between the SiN waveguides and the highly nonlinear GO films, the FWM performance of the hybrid waveguides is significantly improved. SiN waveguides with both uniformly coated and patterned GO films are fabricated based on a transfer-free, layer-by-layer GO coating method together with standard photolithography and lift-off processes, yielding precise control of the film thickness, placement and coating length. Detailed FWM measurements are carried out for the fabricated devices with different numbers of GO layers and at different pump powers. By optimizing the trade-off between the nonlinearity and loss, we obtain a significant improvement in the FWM conversion efficiency of ≈7.3 dB for a uniformly coated device with 1 layer of GO and ≈9.1 dB for a patterned device with 5 layers of GO. We also obtain a significant increase in FWM bandwidth for the patterned devices. A detailed analysis of the influence of pattern length and position on the FWM performance is performed. Based on the FWM measurements, the dependence of GO’s third-order nonlinearity on layer number and pump power is also extracted, revealing interesting physical insights about the 2D layered GO films. Finally, we obtain an enhancement in the effective nonlinear parameter of the hybrid waveguides by over a factor of 100. These results verify the enhanced nonlinear optical performance of SiN waveguides achievable by incorporating 2D layered GO films.

This work examines the impact of the nozzle-substrate distance (NSD) on the structural, optical and electrical properties of fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) thin films. The films were grown by spray pyrolysis with the chemical formulation of “Streaming Process for Electroless and Electrochemical Deposition technology” (SPEED) technique. The characterization technique such as XRD, SEM, UV-spectrophotometry and Hall Effect measurement were employed for studying the structural, optical and electrical properties of the FTO films at various NSD. The NSD was varied from 25-32cm amid the experiment. All FTO films are polycrystalline, tetragonal crystal structure with strong orientation along the (211) reflection. SEM properties study demonstrated slight reliance on NSD and have uniform films which are a disciple to substrate at NSD of 27 and 30 cm, however, crumbled at 25cm and 32cm NSD. They likewise displayed a mud-look like morphology and smooth white appearance. The average optical transmittance of all films is over 80% in the noticeable at UV range. The band gap investigation demonstrates the average value of 3.5eV and the resistivity was found to diminish with increasing NSD at 30 cm. Both mobility and carrier concentration of the FTO films follow a similar trend. The average figure of merit of 4.98 was obtained which is an improvement based on our previous results. The FTO samples grown at 27 and 30 cm NSD in this work are best FTO samples and hence could serve as a promising candidate in dye sensitized solar cells. Therfore, graphene has been employed in different concentrations in our ongoing FTO optimization research so as to further improve on the FTO’s figure of merit.

This cross-sectional study evaluated the validity of three alternative methods compared to the gold standard 24-h urine collection for estimating dietary sodium intake, a modifiable risk factor for hypertension, among middle-aged and older adults with elevated blood pressure. These included spot urine collection (using Kawasaki, Tanaka, and INTERSALT equations), 24-h dietary recall, and food frequency questionnaire responses, compared against 24-h urine collection in a subset of 65 participants (aged 50–75 years, 58.5 % women, 61.6 % hypertensive) from the DePEC-Nutrition trial. The validity of the methods was assessed using bias, Spearman correlation coefficient (SCC), intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), and Bland-Altman analysis. Among the alternative methods, spot urine collection using the Kawasaki equation showed the strongest correlation (SCC 0.238; ICC 0.119, 95 % CI -0.079 to 0.323) but it exhibited a significant bias (1414 mg/day, p-value < 0.001) relative to 24-h urine collection. Conversely, dietary surveys had a smaller bias but wider limits of agreement. These findings underscore the complexities of accurately estimating dietary sodium intake using spot urine collection or dietary surveys in this specific population, suggesting that a combination or refinement of existing methodologies might improve accuracy. Further research with larger samples is necessary to develop more reliable methods for assessing sodium intake in this high-risk group.

The global oil and gas exploration targets are gradually moving towards a new field of oil and gas accumulation with nano pore throats, ranging from millimeter scale to micro nano pore throats.There are difficulties in fluid transport in nano confined pore throats, such as strong adsorption, which greatly increases the difficulty of starting crude oil.Therefore, it is necessary to construct a nanoscale fluid with strong diffusion and dispersion, and improve its permeability, suction, and displacement capabilities.This article develops a carbon dioxide responsive graphene dot type surfactant.By characterizing its structure, physical and chemical properties, and conducting infiltration simulation experiments, its infiltration and drainage ability in nanopore throats is elucidated.Infrared spectrum measurement shows that after functional modification exhibit new characteristic peaks at 1600 cm-1 to 1300 cm-1, considering the N-H plane stretching characteristic peak.The fluorescence spectra showed that the fluorescence intensity of F-GQDs was increased after functional modification, which indicated that F-GQDs was successfully synthesized.Through measurements of interfacial activity and adhesion work calculations, the oil-water interfacial tension can achieve ultra-low values within the range of 10-2 to 10-3 mN/m. Oil sand cleaning experiments and indoor simulations of spontaneous imbibition in tight cores demonstrate that F-GQDs exhibit effective oil washing capabilities and a strong response to carbon dioxide. When combined with carbon dioxide, the system enhances both the rate and efficiency of oil washing.Imbibition recovery can reach more than 50%.The research results provide a certain theoretical basis and data reference for the efficient development of tight reservoirs.

Limonene epoxide (1,2 limonene oxide) readily reacts with carbon dioxide in a ring opening copolymerization reaction with insertion of CO₂ and formation of polycarbonates of exceptional chemical and physical properties. Both poly(limonene carbonate) and poly(limonene dicarbonate) can be synthesized using low cost Zn or Al homogeneous catalysts. This study addresses selected relevant questions concerning the technical and economic feasibility of limonene and carbon dioxide polymers en route to the bioeconomy.

Clathrate hydrate-based technologies have been considered as promising and sustainable alternatives for the effective management of the climate change risks related to emissions of carbon dioxide, produced by human activities. This work presents a combined experimental and computational investigation of the effects of the operational procedures and characteristics of the experimental configuration, on the phase diagrams of CO2-H2O systems and CO2 hydrates formation, growth and dissociation conditions. The operational modes involved (i) the incremental (step-wise) temperature cycling and (ii) the continuous temperature cycling processes, in the framework of an isochoric pressure search method. Also, two different high pressure PVT configurations were used, of which one encompassed a stirred tank reactor and the other incorporated an autoclave of constant volume with magnetic agitation. The experimental results implied a dependence of the subcooling, (P, T) conditions for hydrate formation and dissociation and thermal stability of the hydrate phase on the applied temperature cycling mode, and the technical features of the utilized PVT configuration. The experimental findings were complemented by a thermodynamic simulation model and other calculation approaches, with the aim to resolve the phase diagrams including the CO2 dissolution over the entire range of the applied (P, T) conditions.

he present experiment concerns deposition of ZnO by ALD and subsequent growth of nanowires by chemical bath. We used a novel AISI 301 steel substrate with mechanical parameters that make it suitable to use as a piezoelectric component in an energy harvesting device. We found out that a thin layer of another oxide below ZnO provides outstanding adhesion. Without it, ZnO exhibits island growth and is mechanically unstable. Such prepared samples were placed under repeated mechanical stress. They showed a piezoelectric signal which is stable after hundreds of actuations. This shows good promise for use of our device based on ZnO, an earth-abundant and non-toxic material, as an alternative to widespread in piezo components but environmentally unfriendly PZT. The piezo layers generated enough power for operations performed by a IoT chip. The designed measurement setup allowed for the demonstration of an application of AISI 301 steel substrate coated with ZnO by atomic layer and chemical bath deposition techniques as a piezoelectric component capable of generating energies usable in Internet of Things applications.

Many corporations aspire to become Net Zero Carbon Dioxide by 2030-2050. This paper examines what it will take. It requires understanding where energy is produced and consumed, the magnitude of CO2 generation, and the Carbon Cycle. Reviews are provided for prior technologies for reducing CO2 emissions from fossil to focus on their limitations and to show that none offer a complete solution. Both biofuels and CO2 sequestration reduce future CO2 emissions from fossil fuels. They will not remove CO2 already in the atmosphere. Planting trees has been proposed as one solution. Trees are a temporary solution. When they die, they decompose and release their carbon as CO2 to the atmosphere. The only way to permanently remove CO2 already in the atmosphere is to break the Carbon Cycle by growing biomass from atmospheric CO2 and sequestering biomass carbon. Permanent sequestration of leaves is proposed as a solution. Leaves have a short Carbon Cycle time constant. They renew and decompose every year. Theoretically, sequestrating a fraction of the world’s tree leaves can get the world to Net Zero without disturbing the underlying forests. This would be CO2 capture in its simplest and most natural form. Permanent sequestration may be achieved by redesigning landfills to discourage decomposition. In traditional landfills, waste undergoes several stages of decomposition, including rapid initial aerobic decomposition to CO2, followed by slow anaerobic decomposition to methane and CO2. The latter can take hundreds to thousands of years. Understanding landfill chemistry provides clues to disrupting decomposition at each phase.

Carbon dioxide (CO2), a major greenhouse gas, capture and separation has recently become a crucial technological solution to reduce atmospheric emissions from fossil fuel burning. Thereafter, many efforts have been put forwarded to reduce the burden on climate change by capturing and separating them especially from larger power plants by the utilization of different technologies. Those technologies have often suffered from high operating cost and huge energy consumption. On right side, physical process such as adsorption is very cost effective process which have been widely used to adsorb different contaminants including CO2. Henceforth, this review covers the overall efficacies of CO2 capture by the utilization of carbon based materials through adsorption technology. Subsequently, we also address the associated challenges and future opportunities of carbon based materials (CBMs). For CO2 capture, it was found that CBMs followed the order of carbon nanomaterials (i.e., graphene, graphene oxides, carbon nanotubes and their composites) < mesoporous -microporous or hierarchical porous carbons < biochar and activated biochar < activated carbons.

GaN nanowires grown on metal substrates attract an increasing interest for a wide range of applications. Herein, we report GaN nanowires grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy on thin polycrystalline ZrN buffer layers, sputtered onto Si(111) substrates. The nanowire orientation is studied experimentally and described within a model as a function of the Ga beam angle, nanowire tilt angle and substrate rotation. We show that vertically aligned nanowires grow faster than inclined nanowires, which leads to an interesting effect of geometrical selection of the nanowire orientation in the directional molecular beam epitaxy technique. After a given growth time, this effect depends on the nanowire surface density. At low density, the nanowires continue to grow with random orientations as nucleated. At high density, the effect of preferential growth induced by unidirectional supply of material in MBE starts to dominate. Faster growing nanowires with smaller tilt angles shadow more inclined nanowires that grow slower. This helps to obtain more regular ensembles of vertically oriented GaN nanowires despite their random position induced by the metallic grains at nucleation. The obtained dense ensembles of vertically aligned GaN nanowires on ZrN/Si(111) surfaces are highly relevant for device applications. These results are not specific for GaN nanowires and should be relevant for any nanowires which are epitaxially linked to the randomly oriented surface grains in the directional molecular beam epitaxy.

Layered two-dimensional (2D) GO films are integrated with silicon-on-insulator (SOI) nanowire waveguides to experimentally demonstrate an enhanced Kerr nonlinearity, observed through self-phase modulation (SPM). The GO films are integrated with SOI nanowires using a large-area, transfer-free, layer-by-layer coating method that yields precise control of the film thickness. The film placement and coating length are controlled by opening windows in the silica cladding of the SOI nanowires. Owing to the strong mode overlap between the SOI nanowires and the highly nonlinear GO films, the Kerr nonlinearity of the hybrid waveguides is significantly enhanced. Detailed SPM measurements using picosecond optical pulses show significant spectral broadening enhancement for SOI nanowires coated with 2.2-mm-long films of 1−3 layers of GO, and 0.4-mm-long films with 5−20 layers of GO. By fitting the experimental results with theory, the dependence of GO’s n₂ on layer number and pulse energy is obtained, showing interesting physical insights and trends of the layered GO films from 2D monolayers to quasi bulk-like behavior. Finally, we show that by coating SOI nanowires with GO films the effective nonlinear parameter of SOI nanowires is increased 16 fold, with the effective nonlinear figure of merit (FOM) increasing by about 20 times to FOM > 5. These results reveal the strong potential of using layered GO films to improve the Kerr nonlinear optical performance of silicon photonic devices.

We report the influence of ammonium hydroxide (NH4OH), as growth additive, on zinc oxide nanomaterial through the optical response obtained by photoluminescence (PL). A low-temperature hydrothermal process is employed for the growth of ZnO nanowires (NWs) on seedless Au surface. A more than two order of magnitude change in ZnO NW density is demonstrated via careful addition of NH4OH in the growth solution. Further, we show by systematic experimental study and PL characterization data that the addition of NH4OH can degrade the optical response of ZnO NWs produced. The increase of growth solution basicity with the addition of NH4OH may slowly degrade the optical response of NWs by slowly etching its surfaces, increasing the point defects in ZnO NWs. The present study demonstrates the importance of growth nutrients to obtain quality controlled density tunable ZnO NWs on seedless conducting substrates.

Three-dimensional (3D) printing technologies are transforming the design and manufacture of components and products across a variety of disciplines, however their application in the construction industry is still limited. Material deposition processes can achieve infinite geometries and have advanced from rapid prototyping and model-scale markets to their application in fabricating functional products, large objects and the construction of full-scale buildings. Many international projects have recently been realized and the construction industry is beginning to utilise these dynamic technologies. The potential advantages for integrating 3D printing into house construction are significant, these include the capacity for mass customization of designs and parameters for functional and aesthetic purposes, reduction in construction waste from highly precise material placement, and the use of recycled waste products in layer deposition materials. With the ultimate goal of improving construction efficiency and decreasing building costs, applying Strand7 Finite Element Analysis software, a numerical model was designed specifically for 3D printing in a cement mix incorporated with recycled waste product High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) and found that construction of an arched truss-like roof was structurally feasible without the need for steel reinforcements. The lab sizes prototypes were manufactured based on the destined numerical model by using a 3D printing technology. Currently available 3D printing technologies can be adopted for building construction and this paper discusses the applications, advantages, limitations and future directions of 3D printing as an innovative and viable solution for affordable house construction.

The possibility of increasing the resource of steel fingers working in tandem with bronze bushings by plasma-electrolytic nitrocarburizing of the surface of medium carbon steel is shown. The phase composition, microhardness, morphology and surface roughness were studied. Tribological tests were carried out under dry friction conditions according to the shaft-pad scheme. It has been established that plasma-electrolytic nitrocarburizing of the surface of medium carbon steel at a temperature of 700 °C for 5 minutes leads to a decrease in a friction coefficient by 2.3 times, weight wear of steel by 24.9 times, and bronze counterbody by 5.9 times. At the same time, the contact stiffness increases 2.6 times. The type of wear is fatigue with dry friction and plastic contact. Changes in tribological characteristics are associated with the high hardness of the hardened steel surface together with the influence of dispersed nitrides and iron carbonitrides distributed in it.

This work reports the role of structure and composition on the determination of the performances of p-type SnOx TFTs deposited by rf magnetron sputtering at room temperature, followed by a post-annealed step up to 200 °C at different oxygen partial pressures (Opp), between 0% and 20%, but where the p-type conduction was only observed between 2.8–3.8%. The role of structure and composition were evaluated by XRD and Mössbauer spectroscopic studies. The study allows to identify the best phases/compositions and thicknesses (around 12 nm) to be used that lead to the production of TFTs with a bottom gate configuration, on glasses coated with conductive Indium Tin Oxide, followed by Aluminium Titanium Oxide dielectric layer with saturation mobility of 4.6 cm²V⁻¹s⁻¹ and on-off ratio above 7 × 10⁴, operating at the enhancement mode with a saturation voltage of −10 V.

Cambodian spices Amomum kravanh, Citrus hystrix and Piper nigrum 'Kampot' have long history of seasoning of food products. In this study, essential oils (EOs) and supercritical CO2 extracts from all three species have been analyzed using GC-MS with two columns of different polarity, whereas EO and CO2 extract from P. nigrum fruits and CO2 extract from the peel of C. hystrix have been isolated and analyzed for the first time. The results showed that A. kravanh EO contained mostly eucalyptol (78.8/ 72.6 %), while CO2 extract was rich in oleic acid (29.26 %) and tricosane (14.74 %). C. hystrix EO was rich in β-pinene (29.95/29.45 %), followed by D-limonene (24.54/23.24 %) and sabinene (9.94/10.23 %). β-pinene (30.2/28.9 %), D-limonene (23.99/23.74 %) and sabinene (13.36/19.55 %) were also predominant in the CO2 extracts. β-Caryophyllene was the main constituent of both EO and CO2 extract from P. nigrum 'Kampot' with contents ranging from 37.84 to 55.84 %, followed by 3-carene (from 7.18 to 18.72 %). Such findings suggest that supercritical CO2 can potentially be used for extraction of all three Cambodian spices. Nevertheless, further research determining the most efficient extraction parameters will be needed before its application in the spice processing practice.

Bioactive surface coatings have retained the attention of researchers and physicians due to their versatility and range of applications in orthopedics, particularly in infection prevention. Antibacterial metal nanoparticles (mNPs) are a promising therapeutic, with vast application opportunities on orthopedic implants. The current research aimed to construct a polyelectrolyte multilayer on a highly porous titanium implant using alternating thin film coatings of chitosan and alginate via the layer-by-layer (LbL) self-assembly technique, along with the incorporation of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) or titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2NPs), for antibacterial and osteoconductive activity. These mNPs were characterized for their physicochemical properties using quartz crystal microgravimetry with dissipation system, nanoparticle tracking analysis, scanning electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy. Their cytotoxicity and osteogenic differentiation capabilities were assessed by AlamarBlue and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity assays, respectively. The antibiofilm efficacy of the mNPs tested against Staphylococcus aureus. The LbL polyelectrolyte coating was successfully applied to the porous titanium substrate. A dose-dependent relationship between nanoparticle concentration and ALP as well as antibacterial effects was observed. TiO2NP samples were also less cytotoxic than AgNP counterparts, although similarly antimicrobial. Together, these data serve as a proof-of-concept for a novel coating approach for orthopedic implants with antimicrobial and osteoconductive properties.

Authorities and governmental bodies strongly emphasize the importance of residents preparing for natural disasters, particularly underscoring the significance of readiness for geophysical hazards like earthquakes. In this study, which represents comparative quantitative research, the levels and predictors of the impact on preparedness for earthquake-induced disasters in South-Eastern Europe countries such as Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia are examined. Using the snowball sampling technique (online questionnaire), a survey of 1245 respondents (Montenegro (n = 400), North Macedonia (n = 345), and Serbia (n = 500) was conducted from February 2023 to February 2024. The paper is based on the central hypothesis that the most significant predictor of earthquake preparedness in Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia is age, followed by gender and education. Multivariate regression analysis was used to determine the extent to which five scores of the subscales (household preparedness, community preparedness, disaster preparation, earthquake risk awareness, reinforced house) were associated with seventh demographic and socio-economic variables. In addition to the mentioned analysis, other statistical analyses such as T-test, one-way ANOVA analysis, and Pearson correlation were also utilized. The results indicate that age emerges as a predictor in various aspects of earthquake-induced disaster preparedness and awareness in most models, followed by education. These findings confirm the significance of respondents' age in determining levels of preparedness and earthquake awareness. Overall, in North Macedonia, respondents recorded the highest ratings (M = 3.52) for household preparedness for earthquakes, compared to Montenegro (M = 2.98) and Serbia (M = 3.26), where the lowest ratings were recorded. Research findings, taking into account cultural characteristics, can serve as a basis for the development of targeted interventions, strategies, policies, and programs aimed at improving the level of societal preparedness for earthquake-induced disasters.

This pioneering study explores the geospatial and temporal patterns of natural and human-induced disasters from 1900 to 2024, providing essential insights into their global distribution and impacts. Utilizing the comprehensive international EM-DAT database, our analysis reveals significant trends and disparities in disaster occurrences and their widespread consequences. Results showed a dramatic escalation in both natural and man-made (technological) disasters over the decades, with notable surges in the 1991-2000 and 2001-2010 periods. A total of 25,836 disasters were recorded worldwide, of which 69.41% were natural disasters (16,567) and 30.59% were man-made (technological) disasters (9,269). The most significant increase in natural disasters occurred from 1961-1970, while man-made (technological) disasters surged substantially from 1981-1990. Seasonal trends reveal that floods peak in January and July, while storms are most frequent in June and October. Droughts and floods are the most devastating in terms of human lives, while storms and earthquakes cause the highest economic losses. The most substantial economic losses were reported during the 2001-2010 period, driven by catastrophic natural disasters in Asia and North America. Our research highlights Asia as the most disaster-prone continent, accounting for 41.75% of global events, with natural disasters making up 61.89% of these events. Oceania, despite experiencing fewer total disasters, shows a remarkable 91.51% of these as natural disasters. Africa is notable for its high incidence of man-made (technological) disasters, which constitute 43.79% of the continent's disaster events. Europe, representing 11.96% of total disasters, exhibits a balanced distribution but tends towards natural disasters at 64.54%. Examining specific countries, China, India, and the United States emerged as the most frequently affected by both natural and man-made (technological) disasters. The impact of these disasters has been immense, with economic losses reaching their highest during the decade of 2010-2020, largely due to natural disasters. The human toll has been equally significant, with Asia recording the most fatalities and Africa the most injuries. Particularly, the decade from 2001 to 2010 experienced the greatest economic losses, primarily driven by natural disasters in Asia and North America. These insights highlight the urgent need for tailored disaster risk management strategies that address the distinct challenges and impacts in various regions. By understanding historical disaster patterns, policymakers and stakeholders can better anticipate and manage future risks, ultimately safeguarding lives and economies.

Controlling functional properties of matter and combine them for engineering a functional device is nowadays a common direction of scientific community. For instance, heterogeneous magnetic nanostructures can make use of different types of geometrical and compositional modulations to achieve the control of the magnetization reversal along with the nano-entities and thus enabling the fabrication of spintronic, magnetic data storage and sensing devices, among others. In this work, diameter modulated FeNi nanowires are fabricated paying special effort to obtain sharp transition regions between two segments of different diameters (from about 450 nm to 120 nm), enabling precise control over the magnetic behavior of the sample. Micromagnetic simulations performed on single bi-segmented nanowires predict a double step magnetization reversal where the wide segment magnetization switches near 200 Oe through a vortex domain wall, while at 500 Oe the magnetization of the narrow one is reversed through a corkscrew like mechanism. Finally, these results are confirmed with magneto-optic Kerr effect measurements at the transition of isolated bi-segmented nanowires. Furthermore, macroscopic vibrating sample magnetometry is used to demonstrate that the magnetic decoupling of nanowire segments is the main phenomenon occurring over the entire fabricated nanowires.

The adsorption of carbon dioxide on amino silanes-functionalized MCM-41 and SBA-15 materials is reported. The functionalization of mesoporous silicas was made by post-synthesis method, by impregnation of 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane. The obtained materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning and transmission electron microscopies, nitrogen adsorption-desorption and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements. The carbon dioxide adsorption capacities for the samples were carried out under ambient pressures. The obtained results evidenced that amino-silanes with a terminal amine (–NH₂) were functionalized through covalent coupling of this group on the surface of the channels in the ordered mesoporous silica, meaning that the amine is anchored on the surface of the bigger pores of the MCM-41 and SBA-15 support. For functionalized materials, the CO₂ adsorption capacity of the AMCM-41 increased from 0.18 to 1.1 mmol·g⁻¹, whereas for ASBA-15, it was from 0.6 to 1.8 mmol·g⁻¹. The Lagergren kinetic algorithms were applied in order to validate the obtained results, evidencing the enhanced carbon dioxide adsorption capacity and stability of the functionalized ordered mesoporous molecular sieves.

The present study aims at deposition of zinc phosphate coatings with the incorporation of nano Titanium dioxide particles by chemical phosphating method. Zinc phosphate coatings were developed on low carbon steel by using nano TiO2 in the standard phosphating bath. The Coated low carbon steel samples were assessed for corrosion studies using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and potentiodynamic polarisation techniques in 3.5% NaCl solution. Chemical composition of the coatings was analysed by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Significant variations in the coating weight, porosity and corrosion resistance were observed with the addition of nano TiO2 in the phosphating bath. Corrosion rate of nano TiO2 incorporated chemical phosphate coated samples was found to be 3.5 mpy which was 4 times less than the bare uncoated low carbon steel (~14 mpy). Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy studies revels in the reduction of porosity in nano TiO2 phosphate coated samples. It was found that nano TiO2 particles in the phosphating solution yielded phosphate coatings of higher coating weight, greater surface coverage and enhanced corrosion resistance than the normal zinc phosphate coatings (developed using normal phosphating bath).

Many corporations and governments aspire to become Net Zero Carbon Dioxide by 2030-2050. Achieving this goal requires understanding where energy is produced and consumed, the magnitude of CO₂ generation, and the Carbon Cycle. Many prior proposed solutions focus on reducing future CO₂ emissions from continued use of fossil fuels. Examination of these technologies exposes their limitations and shows that none offer a complete solution. For example, bioethanol is shown to be both carbon and energy inefficient. Direct Air Capture technologies are needed to reduce CO₂ already in the air. The most natural form of Direct Air Capture involves letting nature do the work of creating biomass via photosynthesis. However, it is necessary to break the Carbon Cycle by permanently sequestering that biomass carbon in “landfills” modified to discourage decomposition to CO₂ and methane. Tree leaves and biomass grown on-purpose, such as high yield switchgrass, are proposed as good biomass sources for this purpose. Left unsequestered, leaves decompose with a short Carbon Cycle time constant releasing CO₂ back to the atmosphere. While in any given year, leaves represent a small fraction of a tree’s above ground biomass, leaves can represent a substantial fraction of the total biomass generated by a tree when integrated over a tree’s lifetime. Understanding the chemistry of the distinct phases landfills undergo is the key to minimizing or eliminating decomposition. First, the compact cross-linked structure of cellulose and keeping water out will make it difficult for initial depolymerization to release sugars. Air ingress should be minimized to minimize Phase I aerobic decomposition. pH manipulation can discourage acid formation during Phase II. Lignocellulose is low in nutrients needed for anaerobic decomposition. Inhibitors can be added if needed. The goal is to move quickly to the dormant phase where decomposition stops. The cost for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) for growing and sequestering high yield switchgrass is estimated to be lower than CCS for steam reforming of methane hydrogen plants (SRM) and supercritical or combined cycle coal power plants. Thus, sequestration of biomass is a natural, carbon efficient, and low-cost method of Direct Capture. Biomass sequestration can provide CO₂ removal on giga tonnes per year scale and can be implemented in the needed timeframe (2030-2050).

Mercury (Hg) is a toxic element impacting on biological systems and ecosystems. Because the toxicity of Hg species is highly dependent on concentration levels and chemical forms, sensitive identification of chemical forms for Hg, i.e., Hg speciation, is of major significance in providing meaningful information about the source of Hg exposure. In this study, a microfluidic-based device made of high clarity poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) was fabricated. Then titanium dioxide nanoparticles (nano-TiO2) were attached to the treated channel interior with the aid of poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDADMAC). After coupling the nano-TiO2-coated microfluidic-based photocatalyst-assisted reduction device (the nano-TiO2-coated microfluid-ic-based PCARD) with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), a selective and sensitive hyphenated system for Hg specia-tion was established. Validation procedures demonstrated that the method could be satisfactorily applied to the determination of mercuric ion (Hg2+) and methylmercury ion (CH3Hg+) in both human urine and water samples. Remarkably, the zeta potential measured clearly indicated the PDADMAC-capped nano-TiO2 with predominance of positive charges indeed provided steady force for firm attachment to the negatively charged device channel. The cause for the durability of the nano-TiO2-coated microfluidic-based PCARD was clarified thus.

We experimentally demonstrate enhanced spectral broadening of femtosecond optical pulses after propagation through silicon-on-insulator (SOI) nanowire waveguides integrated with two-dimensional (2D) graphene oxide (GO) films. Owing to the strong mode overlap between the SOI nanowires and the GO films with a high Kerr nonlinearity, the self-phase modulation (SPM) process in the hybrid waveguides is significantly enhanced, resulting in greatly improved spectral broadening of the femtosecond optical pulses. A solution-based, transfer-free coating method is used to integrate GO films onto the SOI nanowires with precise control of the film thickness. Detailed SPM measurements using femtosecond optical pulses are carried out, achieving a broadening factor of up to ~4.3 for a device with 0.4-mm-long, 2 layers of GO. By fitting the experimental results with theory, we obtain an improvement in the waveguide nonlinear parameter by a factor of ~3.5 and the effective nonlinear figure of merit (FOM) by a factor of ~3.8, relative to the uncoated waveguide. Finally, we discuss the influence of GO film length on the spectral broadening and compare the nonlinear optical performance of different integrated waveguides coated with GO films. These results confirm the improved nonlinear optical performance for silicon devices integrated with 2D GO films.

In the field of clinical medicine, the real-time monitoring of carbon dioxide gas exhaled by the human body is of great significance. At present, the detection devices in the market are mainly detected by sucking a small amount of gas in the nasal cavity to the detection device, and there are some problems such as too long sampling tubes, easy blockage or distortion, and abnormal gas dispersion. In this paper, a micro-nano optical fiber sensor that can directly detect the concentration of end-tidal carbon dioxide is proposed. The measurement is achieved by using the principle of high evanescent field absorption, and the operating band is 2.004 μm. The sensor uses micro-nano optical fiber as the sensing area, and then detects the presence of carbon dioxide gas exhaled by human body through optical power attenuation. The function of micro-nano fiber is to realize the transmission of signal light and also serve as the absorption medium of the gas to be measured. In addition, the variation of light power also reflects the respiratory cycle of the human body. The sensor can realize rapid real-time response to carbon dioxide gas detection, with small size, low cost, and easy to replace. It has great application potential in clinical scenarios such as Gastrointestinal Endoscopes that require real-time monitoring of human respiration.

The undoped and tungsten (W)-doped vanadium dioxide (VO₂) thin films were prepared by electron beam evaporation associated with ion-beam assisted deposition (IAD). The influence of different W-doped contents (3%-5%) on the optical, electrical, structural, and thermos-mechanical properties of VO₂ thin films was investigated experimentally. Spectral transmittance results showed that with the increase of W-doped contents, the transmittance in the visible light range (400-750 nm) decreases from 60.2% to 53.9%, and the transmittance in the infrared wavelength range (2.5 μm to 5.5 μm) drops from 55.8% to 15.4%. As the W-doped content increases, the residual stress in the VO₂ thin film decreases from -0.276 GPa to -0.238 GPa, but the surface roughness increases. For temperature-dependent spectroscopic measurements, heating the VO2 thin films from 30°C to 100°C showed the most significant change in transmittance for the 5% W-doped VO₂ thin film. When the heating temperature exceeds 55°C, the optical transmittance drops significantly, and the visible light transmittance drops by about 11%. Finally, X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) were used to evaluate the microstructure characteristics of VO₂ thin films.

Integrated disaster risk reduction in schools represents a key component of safety strategies within the educational sector of every country. In this study, a series of 850 face-to-face interviews (650 with students and 200 with teachers) were conducted throughout 2023 in 10 out of the total 18 municipalities in the Western Morava Basin of the Republic of Serbia. The paper proposes two central hypotheses regarding school-based disaster risk reduction. Firstly, it suggests that gender, age, parent's employment, academic achievement, living situation, paternal and maternal education levels, and engagement with social media collectively influence students' perspectives on this matter. Secondly, it posits that gender, age, marital status, parenthood, and educational background significantly impact teachers' viewpoints on school-based disaster risk reduction. Multivariate linear regression was used to explore predictors of students' and teachers' insights on school-based disaster risk reduction. Various statistical tests including Chi-square, t-tests, one-way ANOVA, and Pearson's correlation were employed to investigate the influence of demographic and socioeconomic factors on these insights. The results of multivariate regression analyses indicate that age, gender and marital emerge as the primary predictors across various facets of students' and teachers' insights on school-based disaster risk reduction (awareness of disasters, disaster education activities, attitudes on disaster risk reduction education, enhancement of disaster information accessibility, etc). The results of this study provide insight into the key factors influencing students' and teachers' perceptions of disaster risk reduction in schools. As such, they can serve as a basis for improving educational programs, developing policies and strategies, normative educational frameworks, teacher training, and further research in disaster education.

Abstract: This study observes the characteristics and influencing factors of carbon fluxes of the Momoge salt marsh ecosystem over four years, which behaves as a CO2 sink. The daily, seasonal, and interannual variations of CO2 fluxes in the Momoge salt marshes were observed using the eddy covariance method and compared with various environmental factors. An overall daily “U” shaped distribution was observed, with uptake during the day (negative values) and release at night (positive values). Annually, the carbon fluxes in the study area roughly exhibit a “V” shape. Carbon fluxes during the non-growing season predominantly showed positive values, indicating the release of CO2 into the atmosphere. Photosynthetically active radiation was the primary influencing factor affecting hourly and daytime variations in net ecosystem exchange (NEE) during the growing season, while temperature was the main factor influencing nighttime NEE dynamics. Air temperature, soil temperature, photosynthetically active radiation, precipitation, and water level all had significant impacts on daily net CO2 exchange. At the monthly scale, larger values of soil temperature, air temperature, photosynthetically active radiation, and aboveground biomass correspond to a stronger carbon absorption capacity of the ecosystem. Overall, temperature remains the primary factor for carbon fluxes in the Momoge wetlands.

Nowadays, one of the biggest concern of human being is greenhouse gas emission, especially carbon dioxide emission in developed and under-developing countries. In this study, connectionist models including LSSVM (Least Square Support Vector Machine) and evolutionary methods are employed for predicting the amount of CO₂ emission in six Latin American countries, i.e., Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Chile, Venezuela, and Uruguay. The studied region is modelled based on the available input data in terms of Million tons including oil (Million tons), gas (Million tons oil equivalent), coal (Million tons oil equivalent), $R_{ew}$ (Million tons oil equivalent), and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in terms of billion US dollars.} Moreover, the available patents in the fields of climate change mitigation in six Latin American countries namely Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Chile, Venezuela, and Uruguay has been reviewed and analyzed. The results show that except Venezuela, all other mentioned countries have invested in renewable energy R&D activities. Brazil and Argentina have the highest share of renewable energies which account for 60% and 72% respectively.

Numerous structures at the nano- and microscale manifest distinctive properties with far-reaching implications across diverse fields, including electronics, electricity, medicine, and surface engi-neering. Established methods such as nanoimprint lithography, photolithography, and self-assembly play crucial roles in the fabrication of nano- and microstructures; however, they exhibit limitations in generating high-aspect-ratio structures when utilizing high-viscosity pho-tocurable resins. In response to this inherent challenge, we propose a highly cost-effective ap-proach facilitating the direct replication of high-aspect-ratio structures, specifically nanowires, through the utilization of anodized aluminum substrates. This study elucidates the streamlined fabrication process for multiscale porous surfaces achieved through the evaporation-induced in-tegration of solid nanowires printed with high-viscosity photocurable resin.

The use of metal oxide nanoparticles as an alternative antimicrobial agent has gained attention due to the increasing problem of antibiotic resistance. Understanding its properties and potential benefits can contribute to the development of more effective and sustainable treatments in veterinary medicine. The aim of this study was to characterize TiO2-NP formulations and evaluate their antibacterial and wound healing abilities. The diameters and zeta potentials were determined using the Zetasizer in conjunction with dynamic light scattering. The agar-well diffusion method, time-kill kinetic assay and crystal violet assay were used to evaluate their antimicrobial activities. Wound healing assays were conducted both in-vitro and in-vivo. The study demonstrated that TiO2-NP formulations exhibit significant antimicrobial properties against various bacterial strains such as S. aureus and E. coli. No measurable E. coli growth was observed within a 15-mins period following exposure to TiO2-NP formulations. The TiO2-NP formation can improve wound healing by enhancing cell migration and collagen formation in both in-vitro and in-vivo conditions. In summary, our study suggests that TiO2-NP has the potential for use as an antimicrobial agent for animal wound treatment due to its ability to suppress bacterial growth and biofilm formation, as well as to enhance wound healing.